


The Scavenger

by SeleneJessabelle12626



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Fluff, Force Bond (Star Wars), Force Ghost Ben Solo, Force Ghost(s), Found Family, Gen, Original Character(s), Original Child Characters, Orphans, Parental Figure Rey, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Redeemed Ben Solo, Rey adopts desert Orphans, See what I did there, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Spoilers, Stormpilot, Tatooine (Star Wars), Wedding Planning, for now..., offscreen proPOEsal
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-02-25 14:53:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 51,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22117837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeleneJessabelle12626/pseuds/SeleneJessabelle12626
Summary: Scavenger (n) A person who searches for and collects discarded itemsA good Scavenger knows the value of the things others would ignore. The lost things, the forgotten things, the things left behind, they are worth far more to a scavenger than they are to the ones who lose them.  Luckily, post-war Tatooine has many things worth scavenging. It’s a world with so much to scavenge, even the scavengers themselves fall prey to the oversight of true value. Some however, are not so blind.Aka the one where Rey is on Tatooine being a mom to orphaned children.
Relationships: Finn & Rey (Star Wars), Poe Dameron & Finn & Rey, Poe Dameron & Rey, Poe Dameron/Finn, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 43
Kudos: 124





	1. The Apprentice

**Author's Note:**

> CONTAINS RISE OF SKYWALKER SPOILERS
> 
> Hello Hello my friends and welcome to my next big project! The Scavenger will be a story that follows Rey's life on Tatooine post Rise of Skywalker. I didn't want to write anything too heavy but I did want my chance to explore the canon world of Star Wars. Star Wars was my first fandom. My first (unpublished to this day) fanfics were for Star Wars. My first true OC was a Jedi. Need I go on? ;) 
> 
> Due to my aforementioned love of the fandom, I am therefore trying to keep in canon as closely as possible, however the EU (Now referred to as Legends) was a big part of my childhood so I will be using it to fill in many blanks that current canon has.
> 
> So sit back, relax and enjoy The Scavenger

It starts, as many things do, quite simply. 

It had taken her a week of sweeping, shoveling and levitation to clear the sand and debris in the homestead, another two to get the systems back up and running, not to mention the half a dozen trips she’d taken to Tosche Station to purchase the parts needed to repair everything. If Rey had not grown up the way she had, she would have given up. But the Force had told her to come here, the desert scavenger girl within her soul had wanted to stay, and it’s not like she’d be much help installing governments and fixing the damages of the First Order. So she’d set her belongings aside and gotten to work.

Now nearly a full moon cycle after she’d arrived, the old Lars homestead was finally fit to be lived in. She’d repaired the generators, the power converters, the water reclaimers and had even gotten a few of the moisture vaporators working. Neither Poe nor Finn understood why, after everything, she wanted to stay on another desert planet, but it didn’t matter. She knew this was where she needed to be. She had a home that was all her own, the blessing of the former owners to stay there, the knowledge and skills to upkeep it and best of all, the ability to sense how this entire place sang with the Skywalker Force Signature. 

In her meditation she could feel every Skywalker that had ever lived, because they’d all been here at some point. Some for no more than a day, others had grown up here for years. Luke sometimes spoke to her while she meditated, offering advice and waxing nostalgia about the homestead, his signature tied intimately to it. Leia was there sometimes as well, and with more focus, Rey could feel their father Anakin, but his presence was not one she touched often. He’d been volatile when he’d been here, rage and pain and sadness surrounded him. In her deepest meditation she sometimes felt the touch in her mind of a kind woman who she didn’t recognize. It was after cleaning the gravestones off of sand, that Rey realized that she was Shmi Skywalker, Anakin’s mother. But of all the Skywalker’s, one stood out to her more than all the rest. Even now, she didn’t really understand what being part of a Dyad meant in the bigger picture, but she did know that even with him gone from the physical world, Ben was always with her. He hadn’t appeared to her yet, not like Luke and Leia had, but he would eventually. Of that much she was certain. 

So Rey did what she’d always done. She waited. But this time it was with hope that he would come back to her and not fear that the ones she cared about would never return. Thus, Rey Skywalker returned to the simple life of a desert dweller. 

~

But of course, nothing could ever stay simple for long.

It was on her first trip to Mos Eisley where things started to get complicated. 

She’d come all this way to find a part for one of the vaporators, until now she’d gotten by with what Anchorhead and the neighboring Tosche Station had on hand but neither had what she needed this time. She’d chosen to fly the 80 or so kilometres from the homestead to the Spaceport, rather than take the speeder she’d purchased and leave Luke’s x-wing behind. While the natives, the Jawas and the Sand-People, mostly left her alone, she didn’t have much faith that they’d leave her ship alone if she was gone. It was easier to lock the speeder up in the garage and fly the x-wing. Besides, for once in her life she actually had a decent amount of credits to her name, she could afford to rent a hangar bay for the day or two she was in town. 

She’d taken the Falcon to Tatooine at first, but as the days went on, she realized it was doing the ship no justice just to sit and gather dust and sand. She wasn’t flying anywhere so what good was it letting the ship rot in the desert? So when she’d finally finished making the homestead livable again, she’d invited Finn and Poe and Rose and Chewie and all her friends from the Resistance for a little housewarming party. Most hadn’t had the free time to make the trip to the Outer Rim, instead offering congratulations and well wishes. When Poe let her know that he and Finn and could make it, she’d asked a favor of him. He’d flown Luke’s X-wing while Chewie and Finn had taken another Resistance ship, a simple swap and they headed back with the Falcon and the borrowed ship. 

It was strange being around so many people after nearly three moon cycles out by herself with minimal contact with others. Until she’d joined the Resistance she’d never been around more than the couple hundred people at Niima Outpost, and Mos Eisley was far far bigger than any Resistance base she’d even been on. 

Even the market quarter was more crowded than D’Qar had been and that had been the most crowded base Rey had been on. The life force of all of the inhabitants rested in her mental peripherals, light and dark and young and old forming a tangled web in the Force. If she focused she could sense one at a time the same way she could focus on hearing one voice at a time. But still there were dozens of languages in the air, mainly Basic and Huttese but also ones she didn’t recognize along with ones she recognized but didn’t understand. Lifeforms shouted about food and deals on their wares, creating a cacophony of sound and feeling. It was somewhere between invigorating and headache inducing. 

Shouldering her bag a little higher Rey went further into the crowd, senses alert for would be pickpockets and thieves daring enough to target her. 

“Get back here you little shavit!” 

Rey looked up in time to see a young, sandy-haired, human boy dashing towards her, a piece of something in his hands. He was clearly on the run from the Besalisk who had been shouting, the four-limbed man waving two of his fists in fury. Suddenly Rey was back on Jakku, racing away from Niima Outpost while Plutt and his thugs hollered behind her. The boy looked at her pleadingly as he got closer, clearly he hadn’t paid for whatever food he held in his hands. She gave the boy a knowing smile and took a half step out of his way, pivoting back to block the path of his pursuer.

“Get out of my way! That kid is a karking thief!” The Besalisk growled at her, a hand on her shoulder ready to push her aside but found himself unable. 

“Will this cover it?” Rey asked, pulling a handful of credits from her bag, likely far more than what the boy had taken was worth. She’d rooted herself to the ground with the Force doubting the man had the strength to overcome that and shove her out of his way. He frowned but snatched the credits and turned away, grumbling about orphan kids and offworlders. A few bystanders had witnessed the entire thing but turned back to their own business without a comment. It was still Tatooine after all, crime ran rampant in every settlement on the planet in some fashion. She removed her free hand from where it had rested on her lightsaber hilt, shouldered her bag again, and began to follow where the boy had run off to. 

She lost him in the crowd almost immediately but still continued walking, following her senses through twisting alleys and rows of tents and stalls. Finally she found him, huddled in the corner of a dead end alley, half covered by pieces of scrap. He was frantically ripping pieces off a bread loaf of some kind, eating as fast as he could, as if it would be taken away at any moment. When he spotted her, his eyes widened fearfully and he rose to his feet, ready to bolt.

“Wait, I’m not going to hurt you.” She said quickly, raising her hands in a gesture of innocence. The boy relaxed only slightly, hesitating as he clearly recognized her from before.

“Why’d you let me go?” He asked. His posture is still tense, like a cornered animal ready to flee. 

Rey took a cautious step towards him “Because I know what it’s like. I grew up on a planet a lot like Tatooine. The only way to eat was to trade parts for food or steal it. And when creatures like that one own the food, it’s far riskier to steal it.” The fear started to fade from his face and Rey took another few steps closer. “But things got better for me.” she very obviously reached into her bag to pull out some credits. “Here, take these for your family-” 

He started to reach for the credits but then pulled his hand back. “I don’t have a family.” He interrupted, sounding somewhat ashamed. 

She paused at the feeling of his sadness and her own heart pounding in her chest. “Then I really know what it’s like.” She said softly, pulling a few more credits out of her bag and adding them to the pile. “And I know how much you need this. Is there anywhere you can go? Anyone who can take care of you?”

He shook his head “I can’t. People will think I stole them. ‘Sides, everyone my age either helps their family or has an apprenticeship. I’m good enough at fixing things but no one wants me.”

“What do you mean?” 

“I’m old enough to apprentice in a mechanic shop but all of em either already have an apprentice or they have slaves or droids to do the work.” 

“So what can you do?” _‘What options do you have?’_ is what she really wants to ask.

He shrugged and nibbled at his bread. “I’m getting pretty good at stealing food. Someones gotta take me eventually, guess I’ll just keep waiting till they do.”

“How long have you been on your own?” 

“Couple of moon cycles. Orphanage wouldn’t let me stay cause I’m too old. Told me to get an apprenticeship if I wanted to keep eating.” He shuffled his foot on the sandy floor but didn’t say more. 

Rey looked at him, opening herself to the Force to really see. He couldn’t be more than 9 or 10 years old but already had felt hardship. He knew lonesome and great sadness. A gentle prod to his thoughts revealed that his mother had been killed as a bystander to a fight in the streets several years prior, and he had no knowledge of his father. She also felt the pull of hunger, this was the first thing he’d eaten in days. 

“Do you know a lot about machines?” She asked without really thinking. The Force was swirling in her head, tumultuous and attention-grabbing. Wanting her to focus on it for this moment. Something important was happening. It was the same feeling of direction that had brought her to Tatooine in the first place. 

“A ton. I always helped fix things at the orphanage.” he said, sounding confident and proud in his abilities. It brought a small smile to her face and she nodded.

“Well then, perhaps you could help me? In return I’ll pay you for your troubles. That way no one can say you stole the credits since you earned them fair and square. Deal?” A moment of deliberation was all it took for him to nod. 

Rey put the credits back in their pouch for now and held out her hand for him to shake. “My name’s Rey, what’s yours?” She asked as he shook her hand. 

“Caro Antares.”  
  
“A pleasure to meet you Caro. Now, here’s what I’m looking for-”

~

Several hours, two snack breaks, a dozen mechanic shops and a few more credits than Rey had expected to spend on this excursion to Mos Eisley finally resulted in the part she needed to fix the vaporator. She’d also been keeping a count of all the different things Caro had been mistaken for. Several people had thought him her little brother, a few had figured he was her son, some had referred to him as he slave (She’d refuted those assumptions angrily) but most by far had figured him to be her apprentice. While he had technically been the one leading her in search of the part, she’d been the one that had the knowledge to discuss technical aspects with the shop owners, thus they’d assumed he worked under her. 

She’d gotten turned around in the maze of streets and, with part found, Caro had led her back to the spaceport where she’d docked Luke’s x-wing. But now came the awkward task of saying goodbye. Over the course of the day she’d told him bits and pieces of her story. He knew she was living in the so called ‘haunted house’ out on the flats and that she had some sort of powers (a little Force suggestion to haggle the price lower wasn’t going to hurt anyone) and that she had friends high enough up that money wasn’t a primary concern.They both also knew that the moment she walked away, he would walk back to his life of trying to survive on the streets. The credits she’d given him would help somewhat, at least temporarily, but eventually those would run out. 

“Thanks, I guess. For everything. If you need help again come find me.” Caro was the first to speak up, expression uncertain and voice disappointed if not somewhat sad. 

_Not yet_ the Force said and perhaps another time, a time before Exegol, she might’ve ignored it. But now, there was nothing Rey trusted more than the Force and it’s advice. The Force had been pushing her to stay with him from the moment they’d met and still was even now. But what more was there? What more could she do? 

_The belonging you seek is not behind you, it is ahead_. Rey stiffened at Maz Kanata’s advice in her head. It was that moment where she had begun to consider, if not accept that clinging to the thought that her family would return would trap her forever on Jakku. Caro had already resigned himself to a life of waiting for the opportunity to be more. He was waiting for someone to pick him to be their apprentice, the same way she had waited for her parents to come back. Limiting themselves while waiting on someone else. 

“Rey? Are you okay?”

She could be his someone else. 

The Force sang in her mind, this was the right choice. This was why she’d met him. To be the one he was waiting on. 

“You know Caro, it gets pretty lonely out on the moisture farms. Right now it’s just me and BB-8. I’ve been thinking of getting someone to help me,” His eyes widened in understanding.

“Do you know anyone who might be looking for an apprenticeship?” 


	2. The Beginning

It was by no means a long flight from Mos Eisley back to the homestead, but with Caro’s excitement to fly how could she not indulge him? She flew them through loops and whorls and spins, everything short of a hyperspace jump. Caro laughed and whooped with joy the entire time. She couldn’t wait to show him the Falcon when Finn, Poe and Chewie came to visit. She remembered what flying had been like when she and Finn had climbed aboard the Falcon on Jakku, the freedom and potential of going anywhere, nothing holding you back besides the amount of fuel and the capabilities of the ship. 

She could fly them both away from Tatooine right now, they could go anywhere. She could show him forests, oceans, snow and ice, cities bigger than he could imagine, let him escape from the life he’d had altogether. But no, there was still more waiting for her here, The Force assured her of that. She couldn’t leave Tatooine, not yet. She angled them towards the canyons of the Jundland Wastes, weaving through the cliffs like she was in the Unknown Regions again, except this time nothing but peace waited for her at the end. For now she’d stay and do as she promised him, take him under her wing as her apprentice but not in the Force, in mechanics instead. If she happened to take care of him like a family should, then it was a happy coincidence. 

“I’m going to start the landing sequence now.” She explained, reaching past him to flip a few switches. Caro fell quiet and settled down to let her work, watching with rapt attention. When he got a bit older maybe she’d teach him to fly? Surely he’d like that. After a moment she blinked in realization, that thought had implied that he would be here still when he got older. While she wouldn’t turn him away, she wasn’t going to force him to stay if he didn’t want to. For all she knew he wanted off this planet more than anything, if that were the case he could go away on the Falcon when Finn and Poe left. Either way, she’d committed to doing right by him and that included listening to what he wanted to do. But Force, what was she getting herself into? She’d practically adopted the boy, what if it had been a huge mistake? She’d raised herself from a young age, how could she ever hope to be a guiding figure to someone else?

“It doesn’t look haunted.” Caro commented, pulling Rey from her reverie. She settled the ship on the sand and took off the flight helmet, absently shutting everything down and popping the hatch. 

“Where did you hear it was haunted anyway?” She asked, climbing out and helping him down. He’d mentioned it back in Mos Eisley when she’d told him where she was staying.

“It’s a story to scare your friends with. That the old Lars Homestead out on the edge of the wastes is haunted by ghosts. That’s what you said this was right? The old Lars Homestead?”

She nodded “It is, but I promise it’s not haunted.” Well, it wouldn’t be to him anyway. She supposed the Force ghosts of Luke or Leia might count for something. Once the ship was secured she led the way inside.

After a quick tour she stopped at what had once been Luke’s old room. She herself had taken the main bedroom. “I haven’t done much besides clean up-” She started to apologize that it wasn’t much but then stopped herself. If someone had shown her this when she was his age and said it was hers, she would have felt like royalty. From the look on Caro’s face, he was feeling exactly that.

“This is all mine?” He was quiet, astonished by the possibility. Luke’s room wasn’t much compared to some places Rey had seen. The furniture was dinged and dented with age and had a dingy tone to it from the dirt and sand that coated everything on this planet. At least the room was empty of sand right now and the sheets, while tattered, were at least clean. 

“It is.” She confirmed. “The ‘fresher is just around the corner. That’s yours too. I have one attached to the bedroom I use.” Neither of them had water showers, something she’d grown used to with the Resistance, but sonic showers were still a luxury on a desolate planet like Tatooine and the Lars’ had two. Clearly, the moisture farming business had been a lucrative one back in the day. She hadn’t had as much luck so far, but maybe once she got the hang of it. 

Right now she was making enough credits fixing things for the other farmers and occasionally people who came through Anchorhead or Tosche Station that needed a mechanic that knew about things from off-world. There were plenty of mechanics around that knew about things like vaporators and the types of common speeders used on Tatooine and so on but few who knew more past that. She’d even had a few people come specifically seeking her out to help them and they paid quite well. She also sometimes did odd jobs for some of the shop owners in Anchorhead and a couple of the other moisture farmers whom she’d started to get to know. All and all she was doing quite well for herself. Finn and Poe had both, separate from each other, offered her credits as a reward for her help with the Resistance. Turned out that being Generals came with quite a large paycheck in the New Federation of Systems, especially once the First Order banks were emptied out to be used towards repairing damages done to the Galaxy. She’d refused their offers of course, she could make her own way just fine, the money was better suited to helping others. 

_“It’s too much”_ She heard in her head and looked to Caro, his excitement had faded to something almost, guilty, his thoughts betraying him. Again it was something she was familiar with. 

“It’s alright.” She promised. “I know it’s overwhelming but it is yours.” 

“But I don’t-” He struggled to find his words “I’m not worth-” 

“You are.” She interrupted. “You are worth this.” She moved to be in front of him and crouched down so they were at eye-level. “When I was a girl, my parents left me behind on a desert planet called Jakku. I grew up alone with practically nothing to my name and no one who actually cared about me. I know what it’s like, living on your own and trying to make your own way. When I left Jakku, suddenly I had all sorts of things. Enough food to never go hungry, a room that was all my own, people who cared about my safety, it was all so much, too much at first even.” She put her hand on his shoulder. “That’s why I want to help you Caro. Because I could see myself in you. You deserve this. You deserve a roof over your head and food in your stomach and to have someone who cares for your safety. How could I possibly leave you behind without those things when I can provide them?” 

He embraced her suddenly, knocking them both to the ground. She felt his sobs rippling through the Force before she felt his tears on her skin and for the moment said nothing more, holding him to her and letting him cry. He was worryingly light and thin, the same way she had been when she’d first joined the Resistance, but still the Force sang with rightness. He wasn’t Force Sensitive, that much she could tell, but still he belonged here with her. It might be difficult but they’d get through this together, he would not grow up alone. 

Eventually his sobs had faded and she realized he’d fallen asleep in her arms. Carefully she shifted him and managed to stand, gently laying him on the bed. It had been an exciting day for them both and while she wanted him to eat something, it could wait till morning. When she emerged back into the central area of the homestead, the sky was a hazy orange with the setting suns, already fading to the purples of nighttime. She switched on one of the lights on the central vaporator, in case Caro woke and was worried by the unfamiliar place, then she went to the kitchen to prepare her own dinner. 

A whistle from BB-8 greeted her and she crouched down to give him a pat. “Yes I know you want to meet him but we should let him sleep. You can introduce yourself tomorrow. I do want to send a message to Finn and Poe and let them know.” BB-8 beeped an affirmative tone. “But I think after dinner.”

After she’d eaten, just a simple stew she’d made the other day with some meat she’d hunted and vegetables purchased from Tosche Station, she poked her head into Caro’s room to see if he was still asleep. A tentative brush with the Force confirmed that he was out in a deep dreamless sleep so she left him alone. 

She’d not done much to decorate what had once been the Lars’ bedroom, not that she had much to decorate with. She had a few holos of her with Finn, and her with both Finn and Poe, she even had one someone had taken of her and Leia. She also had a handful of holonovels and holovids, but like most things, it wasn’t much. Grabbing her datapad (a gift from Kaydel) she typed out a quick message to both Finn and Poe 'Available to talk?’

A few minutes later her com beeped signaling an incoming holocall. She tapped the button and set the emitter on the side table next to the bed. Finn materialized above it in grainy blue light but she could easily make out the smile on his face. He had dress clothes on but his tie undone around his neck. 

“Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt something.” She said before he could even say hello.

“You didn’t, we have a dinner with the House of Citizens on Corulag in about an hour. Poe’s still…” He looked behind him.

“Primping?” Rey asked with a knowing smile.

“I’m not primping!” Poe called from somewhere behind Finn. 

“Getting ready.” Finn finished, rolling his eyes good-naturedly. 

“How you doing out there in the desert wasteland Rey?” Poe asked teasingly, coming into view as he adjusted the cuffs of his sleeve. He still thought she was ridiculous for choosing willingly to stay on a desert planet so similar to how she grew up. 

“That’s actually why I wanted to contact you. I was wondering if you might be able to come visit anytime soon, I um” She stopped, suddenly unsure how she wanted to explain what Caro was to her. 

They both looked expectant if not a little concerned. “Rey you know you can tell us anything.” Finn expression had softened as he spoke. 

“It’s nothing really just not sure how I want to tell you-”

“You miss us don’t you.” Poe smirked. “I knew you would-”

“Poe let her talk.”

“Well if you miss us all you have to do is ask, we’ll come visit soon.”

“Actually I mean yes I do miss you but that’s not-” 

“I bet we-”

“Poe, let her finish!” 

“I took on an apprentice!” She blurted over them both. Their words died instantly and both looked at her with confusion.

“An apprentice?” Poe said first.

“Like a Jedi apprentice?” Finn asked.

Rey shook her head, “No, I don’t think I’ll ever teach Jedi of any sort, he’s going to help me with mechanics. It’s actually quite common on Tatooine, for repair shops to take on apprentices to teach them and provide for their care.”

“Wait slow down, what do you mean ‘provide for their care?’” Finn was looking at her incredulously now. 

“I brought him back here with me, he’s asleep in Luke’s childhood room. In the morning I’m planning-”

“So you just took some random apprentice on to help you fix things? How old is he anyway?” They’d all long grown used to Poe’s habit of interrupting and were hardly offended anymore.

“I’m not sure, I haven’t asked. My guess is around 9 or 10 standard years?”

“Rey, are you saying you basically adopted a 10 year old boy to help you fix things?” Finn’s voice was even, as if he were trying to make her see that she’d done something strange.

She looked away and thought back to how Caro had looked in the alley. She’d seen so much of herself in him, the underfed dirty child struggling to survive. She’d vowed to be the someone he’d been waiting for to take him away from that life. 

“I suppose that yes, that’s one way of looking at it.” 

The boys looked at each other for a long moment and then back at her. Finn opened his mouth to speak but she interrupted him this time. “You don’t understand. It was like looking at myself. He has no one, not even someone like Plutt to give him food in exchange for labor. He needed me. And I admit it was a little bit impulsive but I just had this-”

“Feeling.” Both men chorused with her, Poe rolling his eyes and letting out a sigh of acceptance, Finn nodding like he understood. Which she supposed to a certain degree, he did. He wasn’t as Force sensitive as she was but he could still sense it. 

“Well, let us know how it goes. Still gonna come visit when we can. I want to meet the kid.” Poe said. “Talk to you later Rey, have to finish _primping_.” Finger quotes and a kiss to Finn’s cheek accompanied his goodbye.

“Keep us in the loop. And stop making such big decisions without someone there to back you up.” Finn’s ribbing was said with a soft smile, the one she wholly associated with him.

“I will, promise.” 

“Good, well I should probably get going, still need to finish getting ready. We’ll talk again soon.”

“Of course, sorry for keeping you. Good luck.” 

“Don’t need it, we’ve got the Force on our side.” 

“Luck could still be helpful!” Poe called, drawing a smile from both of them.

“Bye Rey.”

“Talk again soon.” The holo disappeared, leaving her in silence except for the sound of the wind blowing on the desert above. 

She stood from her bed and stretched, she’d taken to meditating after sunset when the air and sand was cooler. Technically it was more dangerous in the desert at night, the sand people were bolder and the animals that inhabited the wastes came closer to the flats, but they rarely bothered her. Despite the dangers, she enjoyed being out above the homestead, being in the sand alone reminded her of Jakku and the peace she’d felt. 

The boys liked to think that her upbringing had been nothing but horrible and lonely. She’d be the first to say it hadn’t been great but it also hadn’t all been bad. She’d learned to appreciate the freedom that came with solitude and the knowledge that she could trust herself even when she had no one else. That certainly wasn’t to say that she missed her life on Jakku. She did not miss the pangs of hunger resulting from not enough scrap to trade for full portions. She did not miss Plutt smarmy looks, nor the thieving attempts from people who underestimated her. She certainly did not miss waiting on a fleeting hope of the unknown. 

She climbed the steps out of the homestead, lightsaber on her belt, smiling when the door slid open to reveal the calm vastness of the flats, the winds having died down for now. Jakku had been all rolling dunes and wreckage, Tatooine was more approachable in a way, varied in its terrain as it was. She appreciated the change.

Her meditation area was ringed by small chunks of weathered sandstone that she’d collected early on during her time here. When she’d first started levitating things during her meditation Leia had been as surprised as she was but they’d taken it as a sign of her reaching deeper places than she ever had with Luke. Then she herself had started levitating along with the stones and rocks on Ajan Kloss, that was when they really began to take notice and think about the possibilities. Soon after she had begun trying to speak with the Jedi who had come before her, of course it wasn’t until Exegol that she’d had success. Even now, she hadn’t been able to recreate that feeling. She heard Luke and Leia frequently enough, enough that she never really felt like they were gone. The other Skywalkers, Anakin and Shmi were a little bit harder to hear. If she focused enough she could rarely catch fragments from the Jedi who had passed on long ago, the victims of the purges and the Clone Wars, but yet still not the one she was searching for. 

With a calming breath she settled down on the sand and closed her eyes. “Be with me.” She repeated the mantra with each breath, falling deeper and deeper into her meditation. Even though her eyes were closed, she could feel the Force lifting her into the air, the sandstone chunks falling into orbit around her. “Be with me.” She reached for the bond, tugging gently at the thread that tied them. “Be with me.” Before, she could follow it to the end, to him, but now it faded into emptiness, still taut, but with no end in sight. He was there, she knew he was. “Be with me.” He had to be. Or else wouldn’t the bond have snapped? The thread severed? She knew she needed to be patient, but why hadn’t he appeared to her yet? He was certainly strong enough, their bond should have only made it easier. “Be with me.” She pulled at the bond again, searching for him. _“Please Ben_.” But as it often was, the Force was silent, he was silent, her pleas going unanswered. Somewhat reluctantly she retreated back from the thread and to her surroundings, focusing on the Force around her. She could feel womp rats scuttling around out on the flats and sand people in the canyons and valleys of the wastes. Beneath her she could feel Caro, a steady pulse in the Force, he didn’t glow as brightly as a Force sensitive but his presence was still there. She shifted her focus to him and tuned her breath with his, letting herself simply be. In the morning things would start to change. For now, she could bask in the Force and just exist.


	3. The First Day

Like any smart desert dweller who’d grown up in the harsh environment, Rey woke up well before sunrise. The time before the sand and air grew hot was invaluable and she had long ago learned to make use of it. Her morning routine was quick and well optimized so that she had the most amount of time to do things outside the homestead before the twin suns showed themselves. What gave her pause this morning was that Caro was also awake. She nearly ran into him in the hall between her bedroom and the main courtyard in fact. 

“I’m sorry I was just-” he stammered, clearly thinking he’d be in trouble for something. She wasn’t sure quite what honestly. Being awake before her? Exploring his new home? 

“Good morning to you as well. Nothing to apologize for.” She told him with a smile. “It’s good you’re up, I was about to go check the vaporators, why don’t you come along with me? I promise it won’t take long.” 

He nodded silently, looking a bit surprised to have not been reprimanded for whatever he thought he was in trouble for. They’d have to work on that then. 

“Come on.” She gestured with her head, leading the way to the door. On the way out she grabbed her toolkit and hooked her lightsaber to her belt. Caro had exuded curiosity about the weapon since the moment he’d seen it back in Mos Eisley, probably because it was unlike anything he’d likely ever seen and that still hadn’t changed. She’d tell him about it eventually but now didn’t feel the right time. 

He stayed silent but alert as she led the way to the first vaporator. She’d fixed the closest ones first, well actually she’d broken the closest one in her efforts to learn how to fix it, but had since repaired her damage and the damage from age. 

“Do you know anything about moisture vaporators?” She asked, receiving a shake of his head in reply. “That’s alright, I didn’t at first either. Actually-” She gave him a sly smile “I broke this one even more that it had been when I first gave it a try. But I think I at least understand how they work now.” She chose not to mention the fact that Luke had given her some direction because honestly, even to her it sounded strange to admit that a ghost had taught her what to do. 

“I check them every morning before the suns rise. The panels and filters need cleaning every few days but really these things are so old I half expect them to break at any moment.” She narrated, trying not to feel too self-conscious that he seemed to be hanging onto her every word. 

It was while she was checking the fourth one that she realized why he’d been so quiet. He was trying to learn and follow everything she was doing so that he could replicate it when she told him to. He wanted to make himself useful. She paused and pulled her arms out of the tangle of wires inside the vaporator. “Want to give it a look?” She offered.

He followed her procedure exactly, carefully checking if the filter needed replacing or if the reservoir had any cracks, everything she had done with the others. “You’re a fast learner.” She complimented as they replaced the access panel. He said nothing in reply but nodded slightly to show she’d been heard. 

“You know-” she started to say as she led the way to the last functional vaporator. “I thought I’d made myself pretty clear last night. You don’t have to earn your keep. You deserve food and shelter and care. Isn’t that what I said?” He nodded shyly. “I suggested you come with me because I thought you might be interested, not because I wanted to force you to help me. Do you understand?” She’d turned around to look at him now.

After a moment he nodded and quietly said “I want to help. I didn’t want to make you angry by asking too many questions.” He admitted. “If you got angry you’d make me leave and I don’t want to leave.” 

Rey let her expression fall to a sympathetic one. “Caro, I can’t promise that I will never be angry with you but I can promise that I will never make you leave. Now if you ever want to leave, that is a different story but I will never, ever make you.” He nodded more confidently and a small smile appeared on his face. 

“Now that we have that cleared up, let’s hear those questions.” 

~

They returned to the homestead as the first of the twin suns was making itself known on the horizon. “If you’d like you can go take a shower while I prepare breakfast.” She suggested as they descended the staircase into the courtyard. 

“A shower?” He looked confused.

“Yes, did you not see it in the ‘fresher next to your room? It’s a sonic shower but it's still a shower.” 

“That’s what that is? I’ve never seen one like that. It was so small.”

After a moment Rey realized why he was confused. On Jakku, there had been a single shower tent where you could pay a half-portion to take a sonic shower in a communal area. They’d divided the time into men and women to keep some privacy but past that there was none. When she was growing up, Rey hadn’t really used it often, choosing to save her portions than get clean when she’d only get dirty again the moment she stepped back into the sand. 

“It’s a personal shower. For one person to use at a time.” She explained and his eyes widened, proving her assumption correct. He’d never used anything but a communal shower. If that was a surprise to him she could only imagine how he might react to a hot water shower. “Do you need me to show you how to use it?” She offered. 

“I can figure it out.” He insisted, thoughts suddenly vibrating with excited energy. The thing about sonics were that they never really ‘ran out’ like a water shower might run out of hot water. He would have nothing to be guilty for if he spent as long as he wanted. She knew now that the feeling of standing under a hot water shower was far superior to a similar experience in a sonic but she wasn’t about to crush his excitement. 

“Take as long as you like, I’ll have breakfast waiting for you in the kitchen when you’re finished.” She promised and he scampered away to his bedroom. 

She was well accustomed to taking quick sonic showers, which were already quick by nature, due to her time with the Resistance. Therefore she decided she could take her own shower and still have time to prepare breakfast, nevertheless she politely asked if BB-8 would be willing to start a kettle boiling for tea. Normally the droid wasn’t one to help in this manner, protesting that if she wanted kitchen help to get a protocol droid, but BB was still so excited to meet Caro that he didn’t mind helping if it meant he’d meet the new human sooner. So he rolled towards the kitchen with an excited beep while Rey headed towards her bedroom. 

A few minutes was all it took for the dust acquired that morning to be washed away and she entered the kitchen before the kettle had even whistled. BB-8 trilled proudly to show he had accomplished the task she’d given him, rolling back and forth at her feet. “Yes thank you, you did a very good job.” She smiled, tying her hair back into a single bun. 

She set to work preparing breakfast, frying up bantha sausages and toasting bread. When the kettle whistled she made herself a cup of a bright red tea Rose had brought her when she’d come to visit. It smelled deep and floral and reminded her of the jungle on Ajan Kloss and while she’d never admit it to anyone, the color was the same as Kylo’s lightsaber had been. The splash of blue milk she added turned the tea a rich purple-burgundy color and every time she made it she thought privately that Kylo’s soul had always been this sort of color. Steeped in the red of the Dark Side but not fully missing the blue of the Light Side. 

“Smells good.” Caro’s voice pulled her from her thoughts, his stomach gurgling loudly to accompany him. BB-8 squealed in delight rolling over the boy. Caro took a step back in surprise at the droid’s enthusiasm. 

“Caro, meet BB-8. He belongs to a friend of mine but he loaned him to me when I came to Tatooine.” BB trilled in approval, rolling back and forth in place delightedly. 

Caro crouched down and BB rolled closer, the boy’s eyes lighting up. “I’ve never actually met a droid with a personality chip, only the worker ones. Nice to meet you BB-8.” The droid whistled happily and Caro patted his dome. 

“Breakfast is almost ready.” Rey said, pulling Caro’s attention away from BB. He stood up and looked at the table where she’d already put plates down. “Would you like tea? Or I have blue milk-”

 _“There’s so much.”_ His awe filled thoughts gave her pause. She knew the bread he’d stolen yesterday had been his first meal in days and she herself was no stranger in going days without eating, but to her this was less than a usual meal. She’d learned the hard way that suddenly eating full meals after being so used to the verge of starving was a bad idea. The first few days with the Resistance she had been sick after nearly every meal, her instinct to eat as much as possible conflicting with her body's capabilities. She was planning on giving him small meals at first to help with his recovery to try and prevent him from experiencing the same issues she’d had. There was no point in keeping that plan close to her chest was there? He knew his own situation better than she did, he wouldn’t be offended that she was trying to help, well she at least hoped he wouldn’t be.

“I usually eat quite a large breakfast since I do most of my work in the morning before it gets too hot. What it is depends on what I find at the markets. Next time I go we can pick up some things you like.” She explained, setting a lidded pitcher of water on the table next to the plate with the bread. “Help yourself.” She said, gesturing for him to take a seat and dig in.

She let him take what he wanted before grabbing some for herself and soon enough they were both happily eating. That’s how she would do it, she decided then, each day put a little bit more food out than the day prior. She would have to eat a midday snack perhaps but she’d rather that than him get sick from accidentally overeating. 

They ate in silence for a few minutes, Rey watching him as he ate with the same ravenous pace as he had yesterday. Again, she knew it was a tricky habit to break. There wasn’t much she could do to help beside continue to provide regular meals until he realized no one was going to take his meal away. At least he didn’t have to worry about dozens of other people eating all around him like she’d had to. She’d built up quite a reputation with the Resistance at first as being hyper paranoid that someone might steal her food. Hopefully Caro would have an easier time because it was just them. 

“So Caro, I think we should get to know each other a little bit since you’re going to be staying here.” She spoke up, sipping at her tea.

He looked up mid-chew and quickly swallowed. “That makes sense.” He agreed. 

“Why don’t we ask each other questions back and forth until we feel like we have a good idea of who we are?” He nodded his agreement. “Would you like to go first?” 

He looked thoughtful for a moment and then asked “When did you come to Tatooine if you didn’t grow up here?” 

“I landed a few moon cycles ago, five or so? I spent the first one cleaning this place up though. How old are you?”

The interest at her answer faded somewhat from his face, replaced by a hint of melancholy. “I think 10, at least that’s how old they said I was at the orphanage in Mos Eisley. They kick you out if you aren’t contributing enough when you turn 10.” 

“I see.” She said. ‘ _We likely never would have met if you hadn’t.’_ She wanted to tell him. _‘It was the will of the Force that brought us to each other, even if it was difficult.’_ But she doubted he believed in the Force, let alone that it was to thank for their encounter. 

“Were you on Jakku before you were here?” He asked, interest flashing again in his eyes. 

She shook her head with a knowing smile “I was lots of different places before I was here. I haven’t lived on Jakku in years.” 

“Like where?” He asked eagerly, ignoring the rules of their game. 

“I lived on Ajan Kloss and Ahch-to and D’Qar for a time, but I've been to all sorts of places.”

“But why? What did you do? Were you a smuggler? Did you-”

“I think it was my turn to ask a question.” She interjected with a chuckle, Caro smiling sheepishly.

His interest had piqued her own curiosity. “What do you want to be when you grow up? If you could do anything you want?”

He furrowed his eyebrows thoughtfully for a few moments before deciding on an answer. “I guess a pilot. I know I'll probably just end up fixing things on Tatooine but I think I’d like to be a pilot.” 

“What kind of pilot though?” She asked, figuring he wouldn’t mind if she bent the rules a bit herself. “A freighter? A passenger ship pilot? A smuggler?” 

He looked thoughtful again, absently poking a piece of sausage around his plate. “I don’t know. Whatever kind is going to make me a hero.” He settled on with a shrug, spoken with the casual air only a child could manage. 

“A hero? You want to help people then?” 

He nodded “Yeah, it’s like the stories, the hero that saves the day. Like, like,” he struggled to come up with an example to explain himself “Like how Luke Skywalker defeated the Emperor.” he settled on. 

Rey barely held back a laugh at the coincidence of it all, a smile hiding her chuckle. “Yes I am familiar with what you mean but why do you want to help people?” 

“Isn’t it my turn?” He asked with a smile, catching on. She gave him a coy shrug in reply. “Why did you go to so many places?” He asked.

“Well that’s a good question.” She smirked “This answer is a bit of a secret so you have to keep it to yourself alright? At least for now. Promise?” he nodded seriously. “I was with the Resistance until I came here after we defeated the First Order.” His eyes widened. Honestly, they had never been as famous as the original Rebellion had been but the Resistance hadn’t been a secret.

“You were with the Resistance?” He asked, his voice full of awe. 

“I was, my best friends still are, they’re trying to help the galaxy put itself back together right now.” 

“Will you tell me about it?” He was practically begging, eyes wide and words eager.

She didn’t take long to relent. “Alright, I suppose I can tell you a little bit, but we still have work to do before midday, understand?” 

He nodded his assent and she sat back more comfortably in her chair “I was on my way back to my shelter after getting my food portions for the day when I heard a droid struggling…”


	4. The Generals

BB-8 rolled into the garage beeping and chirping importantly, Rey’s ringing comlink held in his claw. Rey stood up from where she was bent over into an engine block and wiped the sweat from her brow, leaving behind a swipe of grease. Caro hopped up from where he was crouched on the other side of the speeder, setting aside the tools he’d been ready to pass to Rey. They’d done some more work outside earlier but now, just after midday, it was far too hot to do anything in the sun. There was still work to do inside however and they’d been at it since after the midday meal. 

“Thank you” Rey said, taking the com from the droid. “This is Rey.” she greeted after tapping the activation button.

“Hey Rey, just wanted to let you know we’re leaving Corulag tomorrow, planning on heading your way after that.” Caro didn’t recognize the voice on the other end but from the way Rey smiled he figured it was a friend of hers. “We’ll give you a call when we enter atmo for Tatooine.”

“Thanks Finn, see you soon.” She clicked the com off and turned back towards the speeder. 

“Who was that?” Caro asked. 

“My friend Finn, he is one of the ones I told you about. He and our friend Poe are coming to visit. I haven’t seen them in a while.” _and they wanted to meet you._

“Is he the one who was a stormtrooper?” 

Rey nodded “And Poe is a pilot, the best the Resistance had, they’re both Generals now.” Caro looked uncertain, wary even. “You have nothing to worry about, they’re my best friends. I think they’ll be very excited to meet you. Poe loves to talk about piloting, he’ll answer any questions you might have for him-” She trailed off, getting an idea, “Have you ever been off-planet?” 

Caro shook his head, eyebrows furrowed in a questioning expression, no doubt curious as to where she was going with her line of questioning. “I think we can change that. What do you think?” His eyes widened in realization. 

“You’d let me go off-planet?” 

“Of course, if you want to that is. I don’t want you going alone but there’s no harm in taking a little trip in the Falcon when they get here. We could go in the x-wing but it’s a little small for both of us for more than a quick flight.”  
  
“I’ve always wanted to see what it looks like up there.” He admitted. “No one ever gave me the chance.” 

“You know Caro, If you’re going to be a pilot someday you’ll have to know all about how your ship works, inside and out. It’s the most important thing. Before you even learn to fly you have to know how the parts work. So pay attention when we’re working, you’re going to be piloting our ships when you get older.” 

His eyes widened “You’re going to teach me to fly?” 

“I will.” She promised. “Poe may be a good pilot, but I’m certainly not terrible myself. Between just you and me-” her tone turned conspiratory “I’m the far better pilot when it comes to the Falcon and my x-wing. He’s far too used to the newer models of ships.” 

“But you’ll teach me?” He confirmed in stunned disbelief. 

“Yes” she chuckled. “So pay attention to what we’re doing.” 

He nodded vigorously and reached across the speeder to hand her the multiwrench he’d been holding. “You need this to tighten the coupling.”

She smiled and took the wrench, leaning back down into the engine. 

Over the next several days they managed to fall into a regular routine, Caro slotting himself easily into Rey’s life. In the morning they’d wake up before the suns, go out together to check the vaporators, then return to the homestead. They’d both shower quickly then make breakfast together, each day making something new for Caro to try. So far he’d found bantha sausages to be a favorite. Then while they ate Rey would tell him a story about her time with the Resistance or from growing up on Jakku, she’d managed to keep mentions of the Force to a minimum thus far but pretty soon she’d have to tell him. After breakfast they’d do work outside, either on the x-wing or whatever project she had. They’d have to take a trip into Anchorhead to go to the market soon and she hoped that one of the mechanics would have a new job for her. 

Then as the suns reached their highest point, they’d head inside for lunch. Over lunch it was Caro’s turn to share, either an experience he’d had or his dreams or ideas for the future, anything he felt like sharing. They’d work inside after lunch, cleaning or in the garage, whatever needed to be done until dinner. She’d started talking him through the controls and parts on everything they work on, more than once he’d commented on her mention of value for the parts, a habit she was still working on breaking. They’d make dinner together and then they’d either do more work outside if it was cool enough or finish up inside. Sunset usually marked their respective bedtimes, Caro going to his bedroom and Rey meditating for a time outside before she came inside to sleep.

The arrival of the Falcon forced a change to their schedule. 

She was shoulder deep in a vaporator when her com chirped from its spot on her belt. “Caro can you grab that? I don’t want to lose these wires.” She felt him unclip it from her belt and heard the muted sound of the call connecting. 

“Hey Rey, just letting you know we're about to break atmo, be out to you soon. Can you send coords for the homestead? I know it’s southwest of Anchorhead but got nothing past that.” Poe’s voice came through. 

“Give me a moment, doing something delicate.” She said though evidently Poe didn’t hear.

“Rey? Do you copy?” 

“Yes, just give me a second.” 

“Rey? Can you hear me?”

She sighed and said “Caro can you tell them I’ll send the coords in a moment, I need to splice these wires and it’ll take me ages to find them again if I don’t do it now.” 

“Rey? Do you copy? I repeat-”

She could feel Caro’s uncertainty and nearly resigned herself to having to find them again when he spoke up “Um, yes we copy. Rey’s trying to splice some wires, she can send the coordinates in minute.” 

“You must be the kid then. Names Poe Dameron, got my fiancé Finn with me-”

“Fiancé?!” Rey blurted in surprise. 

“Oh, I guess she is there, just couldn’t hear her before. Surprise!” 

“I can’t believe Finn didn’t tell me!” She shouted, her voice echoing a little inside the vaporator. 

“We’ll talk about it when we land Rey, finish what you’re doing and send us the coords, we’re almost to Anchorhead. Poe out.” 

“I cannot believe they didn’t tell me.” Rey grumbled “Hand me the splicing tape? I told Finn that Poe was going to propose sooner or later and that I better be the first one to hear about it, but apparently they figured it’d be alright to wait-” 

Caro stayed silent, handing her the tape as asked and just letting her rant for a moment. After a moment she pulled her upper body out of the vaporator and took the com he held out for her. “I really should just let them find their own way here as punishment but I do want to know what happened.” She said, tapping at the com interface to send the coordinates. After a moment she looked at Caro with an apologetic expression “Sorry, it’s just that they’re my best friends, I try to keep them up to date with any big changes with me and I’d appreciate if they did the same.” 

“So you’re not really mad at them?” He asked and Rey chuckled. 

“Mad? No. Frustrated, absolutely. But honestly, it’s not all that surprising, I’m happy for them either way. Now let’s get going, we can get lunch started while they’re on their way.” 

A short time later BB-8 chirped excitedly, rolling into the kitchen to let them know the Falcon had just flown overhead. Rey thanked the droid and turned to say something to Caro but then paused when she felt him radiating nervousness. 

“What’s wrong?” 

“What do you mean?”

“You’re nervous, I can tell.” 

He looked away “I just, don’t really like meeting new people.”

“You seemed just fine when we met.” She pointed out.

“It was different, something just told me I could trust you, I don’t know your friends.”

“Well I trust them with my life and have for as long as I have known them. You have nothing to worry about. Honestly I thought you’d be nervous because they’re proper heroes of the Resistance, not because they’re people you haven’t met yet.”

A metallic knock on the main door echoed through the space and Rey turned to go let them in. “It’ll be fine Caro, I promise.” 

“You didn’t tell me he proposed.” She said to Finn without so much as a hello when the door slid open. Finn held up his hand to show her the band of dark metal around his finger. 

“Hey Rey guess what, Poe proposed, last night, while we were on our way here.” He said pointedly, though there's a smile on his face. “I was going to call you but uh, we-”

“We were busy.” Poe interjected smoothly, though he didn’t sound apologetic, and wasn’t if the smirk on his face was anything to go by. 

She gave them a disappointed look. “Really? On the Falcon?” They both shrugged.

“We got engaged” Poe said, as though that gave them a free pass.

Rey sighed but still embraced them both. “Congratulations. I’m happy for you.” They pulled apart after a minute and she invited them inside. “We were just finishing making lunch.” 

“That was the kid I talked to earlier right?” Poe asked as they descended the staircase into the homestead. 

“His name is Caro, and yes. My hands were busy when you called earlier so I asked him to answer.”  
  
“And it’s going good? The apprenticeship or whatever?” 

“I think so, he’s very smart and a quick learner. I think we’re getting along well.”

“And does he know about, you know, the whole, Jedi thing?” Finn asked, dropping his voice to a stage whisper. 

“I haven’t told him yet. Not really sure how to bring it up honestly.” 

They arrived at the dining room and Rey noticed that without her prompting Caro had set the table the way she always did just with two extra place settings, along with putting the serving dishes out and pouring everyone water. She knew that in the orphanage he’d sometimes be tasked with helping in the kitchen and because of that knew enough to help her in the kitchen now. But she also knew that it had never been by choice that he’d helped there. They hadn’t spoken much about the orphanage but from what he had said, she’d come to notice that he wasn’t treated all that much better than a slave would be. She’d made a conscious effort to not make him feel like he was expected to pull his weight if he wanted to eat.

“Caro, these are my friends Finn and Poe.” She introduced, gesturing to them in turn so he knew who was who. 

“Nice to meet you.” He said quietly. 

“We’ve heard a lot about you kid, Rey says you’re a good kid and a quick learner.” Poe smiled as he held his hand out for Caro to shake. Caro hesitated for a moment, looking at the extended hand and then glancing quickly at Rey before shaking Poe’s hand gently. 

Finn looked at Rey with pity in his eyes at the exchange. They knew enough of Caro’s story to not be surprised by his shyness or hesitancy. Finn looked back towards Caro and said “I’m glad you’re here with her Caro, I hate the thought of Rey all alone out here,” He received a teasing frown from Rey “not that she can’t take care of herself of course” he added quickly, putting his hands up in surrender “but you know, we worry about her. That’s why we sent BB-8 with her when she left, so she’d have someone to talk to.”

“Where is my droid anyway?” Poe asked, looking around. “You didn’t sell him for scrap did you?” 

“BB-8 is yours?” Caro asked and Poe smiled proudly. 

“Yep, he’s my little buddy, has been for years, since before I met these two even. If it weren’t for that droid, we never would have met.”

“She told me about how because of BB-8 she met Finn.” Caro confirmed, though they could all see the interest in his eyes at hearing more of the story or at least hearing it from a different perspective. 

“I bet she didn’t tell you how Finn and I met did she?” Poe questioned. “Because that’s a good story right there, one of my favorites in fact.” He continued, looking at Finn with a smile.

“Why don’t you tell it over lunch.” Finn suggested, knowing that they’d never get to eat at this rate. Poe was always eager to tell a story of something he’d done and was a good storyteller, though often times his stories could get rather long. 

They all took a seat and served themselves. Caro was doing much better with eating larger amounts now and Rey had little worry at this point that he would make himself sick. He still struggled a little with the knowledge that there would always be more food and that he didn’t have to stash some away for his next meal just in case, but she’d struggled with the same problem for a long time, she didn’t expect the instinct to go away overnight. 

While they ate, Poe began his dramatic retelling of his mission to Jakku to get some ‘important information’ after a look from Rey had prevented him from saying exactly what he’d been looking for. He did a good job of editing his story in a similar fashion to how she had, making it somewhat more appropriate for a younger audience. Though he only obliquely referenced his torture at the hands of Kylo Ren, Rey felt a uncomfortable lump in her throat. She knew that Kylo Ren had tortured Poe and done countless other horrible things, he’d tortured her before she’d been able to turn his mind probing against him, but still she saw Ben Solo’s face in his last moments. 

Most everyone in the Resistance knew Kylo Ren had been born Ben Organa-Solo but Rey figured she must be the only one who realized that when Kylo Ren died on Kef Bir in the wreckage of the Death Star, Ben Solo had stood up and walked away. She still hadn’t told them what really happened on Exegol, only that she’d fought the Emperor and won due to help from the Jedi that had come before her. Finn had felt her die, he’d told her as much when they’d reunited on Ajan Kloss, but the only answer she was willing to give him to explain was the will of The Force had brought her back. In a way, she felt it was true. The will of The Force had led Ben to Exegol to help her and it was their bond that had saved her in the end. 

“So imagine my surprise when my droid who’d I thought gone forever rolls up to me on D’Qar with my old buddy Finn right behind him still wearing my jacket!” She’d tuned out much of Poe’s story, but she’d heard it all before anyway.

A shrill excited beep echoed through the homestead and BB-8 rolled in at top speed, nearly knocking Poe’s chair out from under him. Though Poe was quick to jump from his chair and to his knees anyway, rubbing BB’s chassis and dome. “I’m happy to see you too little buddy.” BB-8 continued it’s chirps and trills and beeps, so fast they barely had time to translate what it was saying. “You don’t need to be sorry buddy, I’m glad you were so excited.” 

Rey leaned over to Caro and explained “Apparently it was so excited that it ran its battery down waiting. It’s been on the charger since the Falcon flew overhead.” 

“Why do you have BB if it belongs to Poe?” He asked, Finn taking his turn to greet the droid.

“He loaned it to me to help me out here. We didn’t know what might need to be done and assumed an astromech droid would be if not necessary, helpful at the very least.” She explained.

“And technically the Falcon is hers anyway, so we really just traded.” Poe added.  
  
“The Falcon is not mine, it’s Chewie’s.” She protested, though it was an old argument at this point, one they’d been having since Han passed away. 

“Not what Chewie says.” Finn pointed out. 

“I don’t need both ships, Luke’s x-wing is more than enough to get me where I need to go.”   
  
“Do both of you fit in the x-wing?” Poe asked knowingly and Rey frowned. 

“We did on the way here from Mos Eisley.” She countered.

“But was it comfortable?” 

“I can’t keep the Falcon here, it’s better suited for you to keep using it.” 

“Can I see it? The Falcon?” Caro asked hesitantly, interrupting their argument. 

Poe stood up abruptly and said “Course kid, let’s go right now.” 

Caro looked surprised at the quick answer and looked to Rey for permission. “I’d planned to show you anyway.” She confirmed, standing from the table. “We’ll get the dishes later.” she added when Caro started to clear the table. Their normal routine dictated clearing it as soon as lunch was done so they could get back to work but today was different. 

“Go on, i’ll be there in a minute, have to grab something.” She explained, gesturing for Caro to follow Finn and Poe out. After she heard the door shut she used the Force to put the dishes in the sink with a wave of her hand. Once that was taken care of she went to his room and packed a small bag with a change of clothes and a few toiletries for him. Chances were this visit to the Falcon would end up with them off-planet and it was always good to have clean clothes and extra toiletries on the Falcon just in case. She had a whole drawer full of extra tunics and robes on the ship and she knew both Finn and Poe did as well. If Caro was going to be sticking around, he’d likely end up on the Falcon frequently enough that it would be worth having extras for him.

She locked up on her way out, taking her saber just in case. They’d landed the Falcon near the homestead, far enough out that take off and landing wouldn’t fill the courtyard with raining sand. The ramp was lowered and BB was beeping at her insistently from the bottom. 

“Yes I’m coming, calm down.” She told the droid, BB giving an indignant chirp in reply before rolling up the ramp. A spike of excitement shone from Caro in Rey’s mind, a smile finding its way onto her face. “Hello Old Girl, good to see you in good shape.” She greeted as she patted the bulkhead, then closed the ramp after she boarded, confident that they’d be taking off sooner or later. 

She heard Poe narrating something from the other side of the ship and took the chance to go stow Caro’s things in the drawer next to her own in the crew quarters. Once that was taken care of she headed towards the cockpit to see if Poe had found a solution to the problem with the subalternators. They hadn’t been the same since his attempt at Lightspeed skipping, which she admitted did work, but only at great cost to the Falcon. It would be useful if they found a solution. 

“Now kid, important thing, don’t ever play dejarik against Chewie. He is 250 years old and will destroy you even if he decides not to cheat. You will not win.” 

“Teaching tomorrow's pilots important lessons General Dameron?” Rey teased as she came into the lounge. 

“It is an important lesson.” Finn grumbled.

“You haven’t beaten him either.” Poe pointed out.

“Chewie was the one who taught me how to play. Now I’m going to go to the cockpit and see what you’ve done to this ship, anything I should know about?”

Poe stood from where he’d been leaning against the dejarik table and shrugged as he led the way to the cockpit. “Still haven’t fixed the subalternators if that’s what you’re asking.” She followed him while Finn and Caro stayed behind to continue whatever they’d been talking about.

“Gonna guess he’s never been off planet.” Poe said as he sat down in the pilot’s seat. 

“Not as far as I know. I figured this was as good a time as any.”

“I thought you would say that, which is why I preprogrammed the hyperdrive with a couple of different places in mind. Wrea is mostly covered in water, the natives are aquatics but there are a couple settlements that are open to everyone else. Or we have Naboo if you really want to show him something pretty. Neither are too far, barely a few standard hours at lightspeed. Personally I choose Naboo, but it’s gonna be more inhabited. We might get recognized.”

“What if we didn’t land in any cities on Naboo?” She suggested, not keen on being singled out as the last Jedi. “I’ve never been but I’ve heard stories. I’d like to see it.” 

“Naboo it is then, you wanna go grab Finn and the kid while I start warming us up?”

“Don’t forget-”

“About the compressor, yes I know. Go tell your kid he’s going to space.” 


	5. The Falcon

Caro had heard smugglers tell stories about the Millennium Falcon and the smuggler who owned it. It was hard not to hear about it when most of the people in Mos Eisley were smugglers or criminals themselves. Jabba the Hutt, the leader of the Hutt Clan that had kept a hold on Tatooine for generations, had been killed by a Jedi for collecting Han Solo’s debt. Caro’s mother had always told him not to get involved with Syndicates like the Hutts no matter what he was offered because they, the poor of Tatooine, wouldn’t have a Jedi to come save them. Most of the stories he’d heard about Solo weren’t positive ones. He wasn’t well liked it seemed but still he was good at what he did, at least that was the concession the storytellers always made. 

His ship however, was praised among the smuggling community. Unmatched in speed and capability, the Millenium Falcon was rumored to have made the Kessel run in 14 parsecs, six fewer than the known record. They said the ship, while distinct among the criminal underworld, was so unassuming that Solo could smuggle anything right under the Empire’s nose. Though as far as anyone knew, the Falcon hadn’t been seen in years on Tatooine, at least not since Jabba had been assassinated. Solo presumed dead along with his legendary vessel. So Caro Antares, a young boy dreaming of the stars let the stories stay as stories, knowing he’d never have the chance to see anything beyond the sands of Tatooine. 

He’d never been in anything more than a speeder before he met Rey. Her ship, an x-wing from the Imperial era had been cramped with the two of them but it didn’t matter, not when he was flying. He’d nearly begged her to go higher, to let him see the stars, but worry that she might decide to take him back to Mos Eisley should he anger or annoy her had kept his desires silent. He was still in awe at how quickly his life had turned around. In one day he’d gone from nothing to having more than he could have ever imagined. He’d have given anything for the chance to share it with his mother. That night, after Rey had wished him goodnight, Caro had thanked the Gods of the Sands the way his mother had taught him and hoped that they might tell her that he was going to be alright. 

When he’d confessed to her that he wanted to be a pilot she’d simply smiled and hadn’t dismissed his dreams like the Orphanage caretakers had. As he spent more time with her, watching her work with machines and the two of them sharing details about each other, he realized that the Gods truly had blessed him with the good fortune as his mother had always prayed for. Rey didn’t judge him for his past and actively encouraged him to tell her of his hopes and dreams and desires, promising to never dismiss him for asking questions. She offered to give him the chance to go off-planet and he was too stunned by the possibility to even realize the name of the ship she’d mentioned. 

It didn’t even come up again until her friends came to visit. They told stories and traded jokes and taunts easily between them and Caro was truly just content to listen. Until Poe mentioned ‘The Falcon’ and something registered in Caro’s mind, back and forth they went about it while he pondered. They couldn’t mean ‘The Falcon’ as in ‘The Millennium Falcon’? There was no way. But the more he thought about it, such an impossible thing might just be true. Rey and Poe were arguing about the ship and while normally Caro would stay quiet out of fear of reprimand for interrupting, he trusted Rey wouldn’t get mad at him for asking questions. 

“Can I see it?” he asked quietly and like a switch had flipped the argument had ended, Poe was on his feet with an excited look in his eyes. He was shocked by the confirmation and really hadn’t wanted to get his hopes up but when looked to Rey for permission she simply said that she’d planned to show him anyway. 

Then they were on the sand, the twin suns heat harsh in the midday sky but there it was, the ship the smugglers had spoken of like a legend. Even more unbelievable is that it apparently _belonged_ to the person who’d become his guardian. It was like all his dreams come true. 

“You look like someone who's heard of the Millenium Falcon.” Poe said with a knowing look as he typed in the access code. 

Caro could only nod. “ _You’re going to be piloting our ships when you’re older._ ” Rey had promised him, the statement so casual despite its meaning to him. This ship belonged to her, or she at least had access to it, chances were good that he would learn to fly the legendary Millenium Falcon himself. 

“Let’s give you a bit of a tour. Come on in.” 

Rey joins them while Finn and Poe are explaining dejarik to him, disappearing with Poe to the cockpit shortly after. Though he can’t help but notice the knowing smile she gives him and wonder what it might mean. 

Finn is still explaining the strengths and weaknesses of the individual pieces when Rey came back in, the same knowing smile on her face. “Would you boys mind putting a hold on this for a moment? There’s something I want to show Caro in the cockpit.” 

“Sure.” Finn agreed, shutting off the dejarik board and sliding out of the bench. 

Caro followed Rey down the corridor with a suspicion of what might be going on, a suspicion that was made all the more likely when they entered the cockpit and Poe was flicking switches left and right, the ship beginning to vibrate gently beneath them. 

“Are we-?” Caro trailed off in realization, looking to Rey. Her smile widened and she nodded.

“Why don’t you strap in kiddo?” Poe glanced back at Caro, a similarly wide smile on his face. “The Falcon can be a bit bumpy if you’re not used to it.” 

Caro’s eyes widened and he looked again to Rey in excited disbelief. “I told you we could go off-planet didn’t I?” 

Immediately though, Caro’s thoughts jumped back to the Homestead, the street-urchin in him worried about the belongings he’d acquired that had been left behind. He was only just getting used to having an actual home and possessions again and they were talking about leaving just so he could see space?

“Hey, it’s alright. We’re not going to be gone long.” Rey interrupted gently, clearly knowing his thoughts like she always seemed able to. He wondered if it was simply because she’d grown up like he had or if it was something more. “I just wanted to give you a chance to see something more than Tatooine. It’s just going to be a quick trip to a planet not too far away, just to give you the chance. We’ll be home again by tomorrow.” She assured him. 

Poe had paused his actions, waiting for something it seemed. After a moment he realized they were both waiting on him. They’d done this for him but didn’t want to go forward unless he did. And he did want to go. He wanted to see the stars and other planets and finally get the chance like he’d always wanted. But still, leaving behind everything? Even for a short time? Wasn’t that risky? Tatooine was not a safe planet, raiders, criminals, thieves, any number of things could happen to the homestead while they were gone. Everything she’d worked for and chosen to share with him could be taken away if they weren’t there to protect it. 

“Caro, look at me.” Rey said softly, crouching slightly so they were at eye level. “It will be alright. Nothing is going to happen while we’re gone. If I was worried about that I would have never suggested we leave. I know it’s scary, leaving everything behind, it was scary when I left Jakku. But we won’t be leaving forever, everything will be the same when we get back. Trust me, it will be alright.”

It was the first time she had asked him to trust her directly. Until now it had all been implicit. Trust that she would keep him safe and fed. Trust that she would support him and not be angry by his curiosity. Trust that things would be better with her than they had been when he was alone. She hadn’t broken his trust yet. He didn’t believe that she would start now.

He nodded and her smile returned. “Good. Now, you know about speeders but starships are quite different and ships like the Falcon can have quirks you need to learn so they run optimally-”

~

If Rey was honest with herself, she should have expected Caro’s reaction to leaving Tatooine, even if it was only for a short time. How many times had she herself insisted on going back to Jakku at the beginning? Her life had been infinitely better, albeit more complicated, the moment she’d left Niima Outpost behind. Yet still she’d insisted on returning dozens of times. Her desire to return had not only been because of her belief that her parents would come back but the same fears Caro had expressed. She hadn’t had much on Jakku but the AT-AT and all the supplies contained within had been _hers_ . The speeder she’d rebuilt from parts had been _hers_ . Her emergency water and food stores had been _hers_. To leave all that behind had been as good as leaving it to the other scavengers to pilfer it for their own. 

Of course he would be worried about what he’d gained being stolen away, especially if he didn’t realize that they were only going to be gone for a day at most. He wasn’t used to having a secure place that locked to keep things, let alone that no one ever bothered to come all the way out to the flats or that enough rumors had spread about her that criminals knew better than to try and rob the Lars Homestead. She could not blame him for his worries. All she could do was try to explain and hope he would trust her judgment. 

They’d made remarkable strides on the trust front in the last few days, more than really could be considered normal but she supposed the Force had to be at play at least somewhat. How else could it be logical for him to trust her so quickly were the Force not convincing him? She hadn’t said the words ‘trust me’ to him yet, knowing that asking him to come home with her and believe everything she’d said was plenty to imply the sentiment. But this time, she did. 

She explained to him her thoughts because she knew he always searched for answers. She acknowledged his fears that came screaming forward from his head, explained that she understood, reminded him that she understood more than most. “Trust me, it will be alright.” And with little hesitation, he nodded. Poe had kept mercifully silent during the exchange and at Rey’s confirmation of Caro’s agreement, continued the priming sequence. 

They took turns explaining it all as Poe worked, Finn eventually joining them in the cockpit in time for the actual take off. And while Rey never really got tired of watching the expanse of space fade into view as she left atmosphere, this time she chose to watch Caro instead. She was used to the sounds and sights and feelings of a ship taking off, even more so familiar with the Falcon. But Caro, new to flight in all its forms watched everything with the rapt attention she was beginning to associate with him. Every action Poe made was followed by Caro’s eyes though the boy consistently glanced out the viewport at the growing sky before them. 

Gradually the color began to fade from the atmosphere as they got further and further off the surface and the pinprick stars that filled the sky at night began to appear until it was all that could be seen through the viewport. 

“Wow” Caro exclaimed softly, mouth falling open in astonishment and eyes wide. He verbally said nothing more but his thoughts were filled with excited ramblings. She knew he’d always wanted to go off-planet and see space but from his thoughts right now, it was like this was all his dreams come true. 

Poe had a soft smile on his face seeing Caro’s excitement and Rey realized both she and Finn had similar expressions. “What do you think kid? Want to do the honors?” Poe asked, pointing to the lever that would initiate the hyperdrive. Caro blinked and shifted his attention away from the viewport and to Poe. 

“Want to send us to lightspeed?” Poe reiterated at Caro’s interested if not somewhat confused expression. 

“I can-?”

“Wouldn’t have asked otherwise kid.” Poe winks. “Here, lemme show you.”

An unexpected surge of emotion flows through Rey as she watches Poe demonstrate and explain the importance of a slow steady push of the accelerator, something akin to joy or maybe even pride. Finn’s saying encouragements from beside her and all around the Force is alight with how right this all feels. She realizes how much like a family they seem at this moment, Finn and Poe the proud uncles to her, son. For a moment it feels like her brain short-circuits and she’s suddenly pulled from the cockpit as images flash before her mind, too fast to really think too deeply on them.

_She’s being hugged by a young man taller than her with sandy blonde hair, he’s dressed similarly to Poe but bears a striking resemblance to Caro, a wide smile on his face._

_She sees two children, one clearly Caro at a slightly older age, but the other, a human girl with honey-brown hair. Both are embracing another child, a Twi’lek girl with skin the pale gray-blue color of the dawn sky._

_The same young human girl sits before her, eyes closed and legs crossed in a meditative position. “Feel the Force flow around you Mira.” Rey hears her own voice saying._

_Caro, now somewhere in his teenage years, his eyes wide not in wonder, but fear, looking directly at her._

_She’s standing before the same young man who had hugged her before and she knows now that it is Caro, features sharper with age and she is near shouting “I’m the one who shares the other half of his soul, not you, not Mira, Me! The bond, our bond is gone again. He is gone, again.”_

_Her golden lightsaber blade pointed at an overweight Toydarian, his wings flapping frantically to keep him aloft. “You will let the girl go if you want to keep your head.” She demands, the same dawn skinned Twi’lek girl cowering behind her._

_“Rey?" "Yes Mira?" "Who's that?"_

_“Be with me.” Her voice asks. “Always, Sweetheart.” Ben’s voice answers._

_“He’s alive Mom! I can feel him!” The human girl, Mira, now in her teens, pleads._

_The Twi’lek girl’s arms wrapped around Rey’s waist, cheek pressed to her stomach, ignoring the drip of Rey’s tears on her head._

_Her expression is furious, lightsaber ignited and raised offensively. “Give me back my son!”_

_“His name was Ben Solo, he’s my other half, the Force bound us together.”_

“Rey? You alright?” She came out of the vision abruptly, meeting Finn’s concerned eyes. Poe was still explaining the mechanics of the hyperdrive to Caro so not that much time must have passed. 

She’d had visions before and they were never clear. She could only assume the Force had shown her visions of what was to come. Her future with her family. Not just Finn and Poe, but Caro and the two other girls and possibly even- She didn’t want to entertain the thought, lest she get her hopes too high. 

“Rey?” Finn asked again.

“I’m fine. Just lost in thought for a moment.”

“Okay kid, get yourself strapped into the copilot’s seat and we’ll give it go.” Poe instructed, both her and Caro completely unaware of everything else around them. Rey and Finn each grabbed hold of one of the seats to steady themselves while Caro scrambled into the copilots chair.

Once he was strapped in he put his hand on the accelerator, Poe putting his own over top. “On three. One, two, three, punch it!” They pushed forward together, the stars in the viewport began to stretch, and in an instant they’d left Tatooine behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's that? A Force Vision? That hints at an actual plot? To be honest, I'm not super happy with the Force Vision bit, at least how I wrote it. But I wanted it in there, so in it stays.


	6. The Planet

Rey vividly remembered how she’d felt upon entering Takodana’s atmosphere. The feeling of awe at so much water and greenery. She’d known that planets without deserts existed and that there were places where water stretched on for endless kilometers uninterrupted and that trees were real despite her never having seen one. But really, without seeing these things it was somewhat hard to believe it was true. The sight of a forest of green as far as her eyes could see, only marred by shining bodies of water, had nearly brought her to tears. Though she’d now gotten used to seeing lush green planets, she’d heard stories of Naboo and its famously beautiful Lake Country. Some considered it to be the single most beautiful place in the galaxy even. 

None of them had told Caro exactly where they were going, all three wanted to see his reaction to a planet so verdant and abundant with plants. When they emerged from Hyperspace, his eyes had widened. “It’s so green."

“Just wait till we get down there kid. You’re in for a treat.” Poe had commented, flicking switches to disengage the hyperdrive entirely. 

“I’ve only been here once, we came to speak with the Queen.” Finn told Rey quietly. “You’ll like it.” 

“Is that all, water?” Caro asked once they got through the atmosphere. “There’s so much.” 

"Like I said kid, you're in for a treat." Poe reiterated with a knowing chuckle. 

“We headed up North?” Finn asked, leaning forward to talk to Poe. 

“Should be able to land somewhere up in the Lake Country, far enough away that no one should know we’re here.” He confirmed. 

Rey and Caro remained silent, both simply watching the beauty of the planet roll beneath them. Rey did have to agree with the stories, this place was one of the most beautiful she’d ever seen. Where Takodana had been hills and tall conifer trees, Naboo was mountains and waterfalls and fields of colorful flowers. 

Eventually Poe found a place to land and touched down, talking Caro through the shut-down sequence despite the boy having to tear his eyes away from the viewport. Poe flipped off the last switch then turned and gave the group a smile. “Welcome to Naboo. Rey, you and the kid go on ahead. Finn and I’ll be right behind you.” Rey gave him a little grateful smile and led Caro through the ship towards the hatch.

Poe had landed them in field nestled among tall cliffs of stone, a private area inaccessible in anyway besides the way they had come. From part of the ways up one of the cliff faces, a small waterfall poured down from within the stone, meeting a stream surrounded by flowers and plants below. About half a kilometer from the grassy field where they had landed, the stream emptied into the lake itself, a sliver of sand creating a beach that stretched the width of the valley they were in. It was by all definitions, picturesque and immensely private. Both Rey and Caro paused at the top of the ramp, simply looking out at their surroundings. 

“I’ve never even dreamed of anything like this.” Caro confessed quietly, not looking at Rey. 

“I hadn’t either. Not until I left Jakku.” She agreed. “That there could be so much water and so much green, it was unbelievable. It still is sometimes.” 

It was Caro who took the first steps off of the ship, looking around in wonder. The grass in the field came up past his the top of his boots and brushed against his skin, giving him pause at the feeling. Rey hadn’t really experienced grass, especially not fields like this. Takodana’s forest floor had been dirt and moss and bits of stone and sticks, certainly not rolling stretches of grass. D’Qar’s grasslands had been shorter, barely coming up past the soles of her boots, walking on it had been unlike anything she had ever felt before. The grass here was far taller and she wondered what it might feel like. 

“It tickles.” Caro said, a smile on his face. Rey joined him in the grass, a few steps with it brushing against her calves confirmed his statement, it did tickle. 

“Race you to the waterfall.” Rey said with a smile, Caro quickly looking to her, her expression mirrored on his face and a glint of competitiveness in his eye. Without warning he took off running, laughing gleefully as he did, Rey hot on his heels.

~

“I think it’s good that she found him.” Finn said, watching as Rey raced through the grass after Caro. “Something happened on Exegol that she’s not telling us. Something big.”

“Ya think?” Poe agreed. “I think a lot of something happened on Exegol that we don’t know.” 

“I understand why she went to Tatooine and I respect that the Force told her to stay, but I was just really worried about her all alone. She spent her whole life alone and then she got us. Like I couldn’t dream of leaving after I have you and everyone else now-”

“Love you too babe” Poe interrupted with a smirk. 

“And I get that she’s always been a loner but I think she needs someone. It’ll do her good to have someone to take care of, its a purpose more than just fixing things.”

“You’re cute when you get philosophical.” Poe leaned over to kiss him and then stood up from the pilots seat. “She’ll tell us when she’s ready. Grab one of the blankets from the lounge will you? I’m gonna see what we can scrounge up for a picnic.” 

The couple left the Falcon as Caro and Rey were walking back towards the ship, Rey now sporting a bright yellow flower tucked into her top bun. “So what do you think kid?” Poe asked while Finn laid out the blanket he’d found. 

“It’s awesome here! Rey said we could go down to that beach so I could put my feet in the water. But I wanted to know if I could maybe,” he paused, suddenly looking a bit uncertain.

“It’s alright, you can ask.” Rey assured him. 

“Could I maybe have something to eat?” He looked beyond guilty about asking for food.

“Funny you should mention that.” Poe said, choosing to not acknowledge the kid’s nervous guilt to keep from embarrassing him. “Because my lovely fiancé and I put together a little picnic for us.” He reached into a satchel sitting on the blanket and pulled out a pale pink fruit. “Try this kid.” tossing it to Caro.

He caught it and looked a bit wary. “They’re good.” Finn said, taking a bite of one for himself, half of it already eaten. A moment later, Caro took a bite, his eyes widening in surprise.

“It’s so sweet!” He exclaimed, wiping at the juice dripping down his chin with the back of his hand. 

“We picked up a bunch of things on our way to Tatooine, figured that what you had on a desert planet might be limited. Here Rey.” He tossed her a speckled green fruit she’d been fond of on Ajan Kloss. “Got some other stuff for you on the ship.”

“You didn’t need to do that.” Rey protested, sitting down next to them on the blanket. “I’m perfectly capable of going to the market on my own.”

“Yeah we know you are but let us help you anyway.” 

It was another old argument between the three of them, especially Rey and Poe. They wanted to pay her back for her help and claimed the galaxy did as well. As planets and systems joined the New Federation, the heroes of the Resistance got more and more praise. Rey didn’t envy all their new responsibilities as the Generals nor did she envy all the attention they got. However, both Finn and Poe were adamant that she get some of the benefits that she had earned since she was the one who really had saved them all. 

Caro sat down next to Rey on the blanket, his snack finished. Wordlessly Poe held up another, a questioning look on his face but Caro shook his head. They lapsed into a comfortable silence, enjoying the sunshine and the warm breeze. Eventually Finn’s head fell to Poe’s shoulder and his eyes drooped shut, Poe carefully readjusted them both until they were laying down, Finn’s head on Poe’s chest and Poe’s arms wrapped around him. 

"Do you still want to go to the beach?” Rey asked Caro softly, not wanting to disturb her friends. He nodded and they stood as quietly as possible. Poe opened one eye but Rey waved him off, gesturing towards the beach, receiving a thumbs up in return before he closed his eyes again. 

Rey and Caro walked through the grass side by side, neither saying a word at first. Once they were a good distance away from the Falcon and their snoozing friends Caro spoke up. “I have a question.” He was exuding nervous energy and she wondered why he had any reason to be. Though it was likely that whatever question he was about to ask was the source. However, Rey wasn’t really sure what he could possibly want to know that would make him nervous?

“What’s your question?” Rey asked, really not sure what to expect. 

“What’s a Jedi?”

Rey felt her heartbeat shudder in her chest and she nearly tripped over her own feet in surprise. While she hadn’t planned to keep it from him forever, she hadn’t expected him to be the one to bring up the topic of the Force and the Jedi. 

“I heard Finn ask you about it back home, before you came into the kitchen.” He admitted, looking up at her guiltily for eavesdropping. 

She didn’t say anything at first, trying to gather her thoughts. She couldn’t tell him the whole truth, it was far too complicated and Force knows she didn’t want to explain the difference between Kylo Ren and Ben Solo yet, especially in relation to her. She was also acutely aware that he had just referred to the Homestead as his home for the first time, which made her heart flutter with happiness. But that was not the point right now. 

“Well,” She started but then stopped again. “A Jedi,” she paused again, still struggling to figure out how best to explain. 

“You don’t have to tell me.” he said quickly, realizing her obvious hesitation.

“No, it’s alright. I should tell you, I probably should have told you before now. A Jedi is someone who utilizes the Force.” She eventually settled on. The look on his face told her he didn’t know what the Force was either so she continued. “The Force is, well it’s everything I suppose. It’s this, energy that flows through every living thing in the Galaxy. Some people can feel it and learn to harness it to do different things. A long time ago, long before you or I were born, the Jedi were a group of people who used the Force to help people.” It seemed ridiculous to boil everything about the Jedi down to a simple ‘they help people’ but at their core, that was what they had wanted to do. 

“So they were heroes? The good guys?” Caro prompted.

She hesitated again but then nodded “Yes, they were the good guys.”  
  
“What happened to them?”

“They were killed when the Emperor came to power, a few survived but most didn’t.” 

“The Emperor was a bad guy wasn’t he?”

“Yes, he was.” She said softly, ‘ _You are my granddaughter!’_ his voice echoed in her thoughts, his gnarled features and sickly yellow eyes flashing in her memory. 

“But what did Finn mean? Why did he ask you about the Jedi?” Caro asked, unaware of any turmoil she was feeling. 

Rey blinked and came back to the present, looking at Caro, she hadn’t wanted him to find out this way but if this is how the Force willed it, so be it. 

“Because I’m the last Jedi.” she admitted.

“What?” he said incredulously.

“I’m the last Jedi.” She repeated calmly. “I am all that is left of the Jedi way. I can feel the Force all around me, all the time. You know how sometimes I know what you’re feeling even though you don’t tell me?” he nodded “It’s because the Force tells me. You know how I meditate every night?” he nodded again. “It’s so I can communicate with the Force. I can feel everything around me right now. I feel you and Finn and Poe and if I focused a little bit more I could feel the plants and animals. The Force connects everything, even the past and sometimes the future.” 

They were at the beach now and she led them to the shade of a tree and sat down on the sand, patting the spot next to her. The sand here was soft, the grains eroded down to smoothness by the water over millennia compared to the coarse wind-blown sand on Tatooine and Jakku. 

“I didn’t plan to keep it a secret, not forever. I just wasn’t sure how to tell you.” She explained and after a moment he nodded in understanding. “You can ask me whatever you want.” 

He was quiet for a long time after that, so she stayed quiet as well. The only sound was the gentle lapping of the water and the wind rustling the leaves. Eventually her curiosity got the best of her and she reached out to his mind.

‘ _Can you read minds?’_ he was thinking, mental shields entirely nonexistent. She bit her tongue to keep from laughing and decided it was time to show off what else the Force could do. With a finger hidden from his view, she levitated a small stone from the stream nearby and flicked it into the lake. Caro looked towards the splash, confusion radiating from him. She repeated the process, though this time he saw the stone levitating before she flicked it away. It was getting harder for her to keep the smile from her face as she lifted another stone, Caro’s eye’s finding it immediately as it lifted from the stream bed.

He leapt to his feet and snatched it from the air, examining it as though it were the culprit. Rey couldn’t help herself, a laugh bubbling from her before she could muffle it with her hand. 

“Are you doing that?” Caro asked in disbelief. With a wink she raised her hand and pulled several stones into the air. “The Force lets you do that?” She aligned the stones into a midair orbit with a gentle wave of a finger and nodded to him 

“Like I said, there are a lot of different things the Force can do. I can lift and move things with my mind. I can jump further and run faster by using the Force to help me. I can sense things that are about to happen. If you get hurt I can heal you…” She trailed off, mind suddenly back on Kef Bir, the smell of salt water surrounding her and her vision foggy with tears. 

“Can you make me fly?” Caro’s voice once again brought her out of it. 

“Theoretically yes, but I really don’t think it’s safe. You’ll get hurt if I drop you.” She said after a moment of thought, thought the glee and anticipation in his eyes drew a small smile to her face.

He looked at the lake “What if you did it over the lake so if you dropped me I’d just fall in the water?”

“Do you know how to swim?” 

“It can’t be that hard can it?” His nonchalance and confidence made her smile widen. “And anyway you said you could heal me right? C’mon Rey, please?” He pleaded, ducking under the orbiting stones to stand in front of her, hands clasped together. 

She realizes after a moment he’d never asked for anything from her before. How could she say she was helping him if she denied his first request? And he had a point, she could heal him if he got hurt and she was confident in her control of the Force that dropping him shouldn’t even be a possibility. She could keep him low enough that even if she did drop him he wouldn’t get more than a bruise. 

“Alright.” She relented. “But you have to stay very still okay? I’ve never lifted a person before.” 

~

Later, when Finn and Poe came to join them on the beach they paused at the sight before them. Rey was knee-deep in the lake, a wide smile on her face and arm outstretched. Caro was floating around her a meter or so above the water. He was positioned on his stomach as if swimming through the air, arms out to either side and joyful laughter spilling from him. His clothes and hair were wet though he didn’t seem to care, clearly it had taken a couple tries to get to this point. 

They watched as, on some unspoken signal, Rey gestured with her hand and Caro fell into the water, quickly sitting up and roaring with laughter, Rey’s own laughter joining a moment later. 

“I think you’re right. This will be good for her.” Poe said quietly, a soft smile on his face.

“I don’t think I’ve seen her this happy in a while.” Finn nodded. 

“So you can stop worrying so much about her, she’s gonna be just fine.” Poe mock punched his fiancé in the shoulder. 

“She's my best friend, you know that. I don’t think I'm ever not going to worry about her.”

“Finn! Poe! Did you see? Rey made me fly!” Caro called out to them, waving from his place in the lake. 

~

They returned to the Falcon as the sun was beginning to set. Caro had been yawning nearly non-stop since they began to walk back from the beach and by the time they go to the Falcon’s ramp, his eyelids had drooped almost entirely closed. While Finn and Poe headed towards the cockpit to get the ship started, Rey maneuvered Caro to the crew quarters and to the bunk she usually took as her own. 

“I’m not tired.” He tried to protest, though everything about him said otherwise. “I want to go help Poe.” 

“You’ll have more chances to learn about flying the Falcon. I think you should try and sleep right now, we’ve had a very exciting day.” Gently she guided him to lay down on the bunk, getting very little resistance from the boy. “Besides, the Force is telling me that you’re tired and I hate to break it to you, but it’s very difficult to lie to the Force.” She said with a soft smile and a teasing wink. 

“I guess I am a little tired.” He yawned widely, letting his eyes close. 

Rey draped a blanket over him and softly said “I’ll wake you up when we get home.” 

“G’night.” He mumbled in reply, adjusting a little before his body relaxed and his eyes closed completely. 

Rey stood up to head towards the cockpit herself, nearly running into Finn in the doorway of the crew quarters. They walked further away before Finn spoke up “You’re good with him you know?” 

“Do you think so?” She asked and he nodded. 

“I’ll admit, both Poe and I were a little skeptical when you told us but we agree that this will be good for both of you.”  
  
“What do you mean? 

“Rey, we know something happened on Exegol that you’re not telling us-”

“I-” She tried to interject but he kept going.

“And we understand that you need to work through whatever happened yourself and we’re here for you if you ever want to talk about it. But Rey, you haven’t been yourself for a while, since Crait even. We were worried about you being alone again after everything but today, seeing you with him, it was the happiest you’ve looked in a long time. So we’ll support you both in this, whatever you need.” Finn wrapped his arms around her. “You be the family to him that you didn’t have growing up, we’ll be his Uncles that come to visit and cause trouble and Rose can be the rational Aunt. Between the four of us, I’m sure things will go better than we could imagine.”  
  
Rey leaned into his embrace and let out a soft sigh. “Thank you Finn. I guess I can forgive you for not telling me when you got engaged. I don’t know what I did to deserve you as a friend.”  
  
“Love you too Peanut.”


	7. The First Year

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey its a montage chapter. This is the first of four planned chapters of this nature. It's wrap up for the previous chapter and tons of little blurbs of things that happen over the next year of their lives that aren't quite enough for their own chapters. The other three montage chapters will function much the same as a way for me to time-skip but also mention little character development bits.
> 
> Also due to the nature of this chapter, I chose to switch from tenses several times from past to present and back again. This was a conscious style choice that I may or may not change some day. We'll see.

The return to Tatooine is calm and without fanfare. The suns had set by the time Poe landed the Falcon near the Homestead and Caro did little more than grumble in protest as they shifted him into Poe’s arms. Rey led the procession into the Homestead pointing Poe to Caro’s room as she flipped back on the essential generators. 

“We’ll be back soon to drop off the Falcon.” Poe said, hugging Rey just outside the Homestead. They’d discussed it on the way back, much like how they’d made the switch initially, Poe would fly the Falcon back to Tatooine alone with Finn following behind in another ship. But this time, instead of taking Luke’s x-wing back with them, they’d leave both ships here. Rey had argued about the impracticality of it at first but after Poe had pointed out that the x-wing was easier to fly for a beginner than the Falcon, she’d relented. She wouldn’t let Caro leave the surface in either, not for a number of years, but he could still learn what everything did. 

“And we’ll see you both at the wedding.” Finn added, hugging her and kissing her forehead. 

“If not before, I’m sure Rose’ll want a chance to meet the kid.” Poe said, wrapping an arm around Finn’s shoulder when he pulled back from Rey. 

Rey nodded “We’ll call, I’m sure Caro will want to keep up with you.” She embraced them both this time, still of the mindset that literally nothing in the galaxy was better than a group hug with them. 

“And we promise that if anything big happens, you’ll hear about it first.” 

“I’d better.” She chuckled with a teasing smile. 

They pulled apart and she said “May the Force be with you.” Poe saluted with a wink and Finn smiled. 

“May the Force be with you too Rey.” 

She stayed out on the sand to watch as they walked back to the Falcon, BB-8 beeping sadly at her side. “They’ll be back. That’s the thing about those two, they always come back.” The blue glow of the Falcon’s thrusters illuminated the desert around, kicking up sand and dust. Perhaps if it were anyone else she wouldn’t watch the ship fly away to avoid bringing up unnecessary bad memories, but she knew that those two, her best friends, would never leave her behind. It was only after the last light from Falcon winked away that she returned to the Homestead. 

Over the next year things only improved for Rey and Caro both.

As they had promised, Finn and Poe came back a few weeks after they’d left but didn’t stay long, on their way to another diplomatic meeting after they dropped off the Falcon. Apparently, being Generals is as good as being politicians nowadays. Again, another thing Rey is glad she doesn’t have to deal with.

Caro only grew more comfortable with Rey and life at the farm. Their work on the vaporators in the morning takes half the time once he knows enough to check them without supervision. The same going for the projects they worked on for themselves and the other farmers. Now that Caro had enough basic knowledge he could do much of the simple work while Rey did more complicated tasks. 

In the down time, she’d started teaching him about all the different parts of the speeder they owned, the first thing he would fly on his own when he got older. It didn’t take long for him to be able to know every process and part and how they interacted. All he needed was actual experience flying it. When he turned thirteen, she promised, that was when she would actually let him fly it. As long as she was in the seat next to him. 

It wasn’t all easy however. They had their first fight around the time he’d been with her for half a year. She’d gone into his room to give him back his clean clothes so he could fold them and found his space a disaster zone of clothes, parts and random bits of machinery. She knew better than to ask him to throw things away, she still struggled with throwing things away after all, so she simply asked him to pick it up and organize it. He must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed that day and snapped that she wasn’t his mom and he didn’t have to listen to her. At first she’d kept her head and not risen to his argumentative tone but then he made a comment akin to her trying to be his family because she didn’t have one of her own growing up. She’d lost her temper and stormed from the room, deciding to spend the rest of the day on the Falcon. 

He’d come out in the middle of the night, BB-8 imputing the override codes for the ramp. She hadn’t been asleep, not really, instead hovering somewhere between sleep and a meditative trace. She still felt him climb into the Captain’s bunk next to her, can feel the genuine apology in his emotions and hear the explanations of his behavior in his head. He’d gotten quite good at one-way telepathy with her.

 _“She died today, a long time ago, but I know it was today.” “I’m sorry for yelling.” “You’re all I have now.” “I do think of you like a mother, just not my mother.”_ His thoughts flit back and forth like a combat remote in training mode, but the message is one concise feeling. So when she feels his breath even out and his mind relax to sleep, she wrapped an arm around him and pulled him closer. 

Rose came to visit for a week, easily becoming charmed by Caro the same way the boys had. Between her engineering skills and Rey and Caro’s new knowledge of vaporators, they manage to get all 63 up and running all across the property. Of course it makes their morning checks go that much longer, but it’s worth it in the end. Now they have water to sell in town and enough extra to use towards irrigating a small garden plot in the central courtyard. It doesn’t grow much but the hardy root vegetables that they usually buy in town, but still it’s another project to keep them busy and having their own source of food did wonders for the desert rat in both their souls. 

Rose leaves with a smile on her face and a promise to see them at the wedding, giving Rey her own whispered approval of Caro’s presence in her life. 

He starts to develop preferences for food, slowly coming to terms with having options. Rey encourages him at every opportunity and their meals change and evolve to reflect both of their likes and dislikes. He gets more comfortable asking for midday snacks, eventually going so far as to take them without asking. Of course, this then incited the discussion of why a piece of fruit was a better snack then a sweet and she’d had to teach him the crash course in nutrition that she had received with the Resistance. 

Also, now that his body was getting enough nutrients, he starts to grow at a lightspeed pace. He quickly outgrows the clothes he’d had and the ones she’d bought for him when he first came to live with her. Soon, they’re buying new clothes on every trip into town or new fabric to hem the ones he already has. They find some of Finn and Poe’s spare things on the Falcon and after a quick holo to ask permission, resize some of them to better fit Caro’s frame. 

They take the Falcon on small joy-rides through the canyons of the wastes and across the Western Dune Sea to pass the time, dipping and weaving over the cresting dunes like a wave-skimmer, pushing her as fast as they dare while in atmo and whooping with joy all the while. Caro’s face lights up every time she reminds him that one day he’ll be the one flying. 

Finn calls more often than she’d expected, though it’s almost always to complain about something with the wedding. He’d always said he wanted something simple considering growing up he didn’t think marriage or love was ever going to be an option, but as he’d learned more and more about what could go into a wedding, he’d started wanting those things for himself. Poe of course isn’t helping matters, he’d wanted big and flashy all his life but a different kind of big and flashy than Finn. Rey had gotten entire holocalls where she barely had to say a word and simply just listen as Finn laments over wanting one kind of flower and Poe wanting another, or what they should wear, or where they should have the ceremony and the after-party. Every decision it seems deserved entirely too much over-thinking. For two men completely committed to tying their lives together, it’s shocking how much disagreement is involved with the actual act of it. 

Still, a date had at least been agreed upon and as it rapidly began to approach she got more and more panicked holocalls. Early on she’d offered to help in any way she could but he and Poe both had waved her off, wanting her to spend time with Caro rather than worry about them. Finn did still however want her to be part of his wedding party as his maid-of-honor, despite Rose taking the bulk of the maid-of-honor responsibilities. They claimed that all Rey had to do was show up dressed in her best clothes and if she wanted, give a small speech about the newlyweds at the after party. Caro, for his part, was jealous that she got to be part of the wedding, so a quick discussion between the grooms had bestowed the task of co-ringbear upon him. BB-8 would carry one ring down the aisle and Caro would carry the other. 

The location of the ceremony had eventually been settled upon to be Coruscant. With Finn having no knowledge of his home planet, and Poe having been born during the time of the Rebellion and having grown up in a sparsely populated colony on Yavin 4, there really wasn’t a better option for what was set to be as important a political event as it was a personal one. 

This time, upon leaving the homestead, Caro has little fears about leaving it unguarded. Though they would be away for almost a week due to the time it took to travel into the Core, he trusted Rey that everything would be alright when they got back. In fact, he was beyond excited about getting another chance to go off-world, going so far as to pack a bag nearly a week in advance despite Rey telling him that doing so was unnecessary. When the day finally came to leave, he was practically bouncing off the walls with excitement, a far cry from the shy nervous boy he had been almost a year ago. He stowed his bag in the crew quarters across from Rey’s bunk and quickly joined her in the cockpit. With no copilot handy, he was the next best choice. 

Despite his excitement for the wedding and to just generally travel off world in the Falcon again, Rey was a bit worried about Caro. She’d only been to Coruscant once, and even then only briefly and had been overwhelmed by it all. There were more people on that one planet than she had imagined their being in the entire galaxy. It was crowded, loud, chaotic, everything their Homestead on Tatooine was not. She’d told him as much shortly after Finn and Poe had decided on Coruscant and while he’d looked nervous at the time he claimed that he’d be fine. 

For now, she focused on talking him through the controls of the Falcon, letting him press buttons and flick switches that were on the copilot’s side. He’d also gotten into the habit of narrating himself, both to reinforce what he was being taught but also to prove that he was learning. At some point he’d decided that she would let him fly sooner if he proved that he was ready, she’d told him otherwise, sticking to her plan to start letting him pilot the speeder when he was 13 and going from there, but he wasn’t convinced. 

What she hadn’t expected, though she really should have, was that as Caro became more comfortable more and more of his personality began to shine through. He was polite and well-mannered to a fault but he was also incredibly determined and driven to succeed. Along that vein, he was stubborn, unwilling to give up until he’d reached his goal. She’d come inside one night after meditating and sensed that he was still awake, mind working with persistent intensity. The next morning he’d presented her with the repaired condenser that they’d pulled from one of the vaporators with pride. He’d requested the chance to fix it himself without her and while it had taken him much of the afternoon and apparently part of the night, he’d succeeded. He also wasn’t one to let things he’d learned go to waste. “I can do it, you showed me how.” had become a common part of his vocabulary. At first she’d mistaken this for his worry that she’d force him away if he didn’t make himself useful but she’d come to realize it was simply his desire to grow as a mechanic. 

She didn’t even hesitate to let him send them to hyperspace once the coordinates were locked. He’d insist on doing it himself anyway.

Rey hadn’t had the chance to see many weddings in her life. She’d witnessed a handful of informal desert binding ceremonies on Jakku while she’d been in town to trade scrap. On Ajan Kloss they’d once celebrated a core-style union between two of the members, with Leia presiding. That party had stretched over the course of two-days, but that had been less about the wedding and more an excuse to celebrate _something_ when they had so little to celebrate because of the war. Finn and Poe’s wedding however, was poised to be so much more. Finn had confessed to her that it was as much a celebration of the two general’s as it was of one year without the First Order. At first, he’d been somewhat frustrated that their day would be lost within that larger celebrations but apparently Poe had convinced him it wasn’t all that bad. 

The event went off without a hitch and while Caro mostly stuck to her side after the ceremony, she did see him dancing with some of the people he was familiar with. At one point he even had several of the ladies from the Resistance wrapped around his finger, all involved with happy smiles. Later, when they were on their way back to the hotel, Caro yawning in the passenger seat of their rented speeder, he said, “Your friends are nice.” and she couldn’t help but agree. 

She’d received some confusion about Caro and what he was to her and honestly gotten tired of explaining that he was her apprentice but not in the Jedi sense. At least no one that knew her had thought he was her child by blood. Some of the people she was less familiar with, for example Poe’s Father, had gone so far as to ask Poe why he hadn’t told him that he was an Uncle. Poe had politely cleared things up for Rey and suggested his father apologize to her for his assumptions. She’d taken no offense but it had gotten her thinking about family once again. 

She told herself that she didn’t think of Caro as a son but really what was the difference with the way she treated him and the way she imagined a family might? Her experience with family was admittedly limited but in her mind they were someone to care about your wellbeing and wanted to help you learn and grow to be the best self you could be. How was that any different then her and Caro’s relationship? Could he be considered her son? In the end, she certainly wasn’t qualified to be anyone’s mother, let alone someone like Caro who had memories of his actual mother. Ultimately it wasn’t her decision to make. She’d be whatever he needed her to be and right now, a guardian and teacher was more than enough for both of them. 

They return to Tatooine and back to their routine easily, though often she catches him looking thoughtfully into the sky or at the Falcon. They’d ignited something in him now that he’d had a taste of life off of the dust ball that was Tatooine. Again she considered the thought of just leaving this behind and taking him to explore the galaxy. With a ship like the Falcon at their disposal there were so many possibilities and more than enough places to see to last them a lifetime. But still, even now, the Force counseled her to stay. To wait and be patient. There was more for her here that she did not yet realize. 

As the anniversary of Caro being with her for one year approaches closer and closer, Rey started to plan. They’d come a long way in only a year, Caro making leaps and bounds away from the starving street-rat he’d been when they met. Rey had never really celebrated name days, not remembering when her own was, but had asked Caro if he’d wanted to celebrate his own in some manner. He confessed not knowing his either, so they’d decided to instead celebrate the day they’d met as his name day. 

She, Finn, Poe and Rose had spent nearly a week planning a celebration that would culminate in the best gift they could possibly conceive for him. A trip in the Falcon more than just a few days long. At first it was going to be the five of them, but as the day grew closer, the Force only got more insistent during her mediation. She couldn’t leave, even for the few weeks they were planning. She had to stay on Tatooine. That didn’t mean that Caro couldn’t still go however. She wasn’t sure how he might take it. They’d spent every day together since they’d met and she knew he trusted her friends as much as he trusted her, so at least that wouldn’t be the issue. The issue would be leaving her. All they could do is plan that the trip would still be happening without her and change things around if Caro wasn’t comfortable with it.

When the day of the celebration arrived, everything went even better than she could have hoped. Caro was ecstatic when they came home from the market after midday to the homestead fully covered in decorations, his joy barely contained when the others jumped out to surprise him. They’d made his favorite foods and Rose had even brought a cake from the bakery that had made Finn and Poe’s wedding cake, remembering how much Caro had enjoyed the sweet. They laughed and ate and played games all day until Poe declared it time for presents. Caro had been unused to the idea and his guilt had flared slightly but after some gentle explanations and reassurances, it had abated. They’d decided the trip would be from all of them, but still they’d each gotten him something small. Rose gave him a toy Fathier, claiming he needed more than just model starships. Finn and Poe had gotten him a dewback leather pilot’s jacket similar in cut and design to the one Poe had given Finn when they’d met years ago. And after much searching, Rey had found a holobook that contained information about all the different recorded planets in the galaxy. It hadn’t been cheap nor easy to find, but she still thought it more than worth it. 

“There is still one more thing.” She told him after he’d thanked them all profusely. “I know you want to travel more.” he looked away in guilt, his thoughts turning to how ungrateful he thought he seemed. “It’s alright.” She assured him. “I understand completely. Which is why, we, all of us have a gift for you.” 

“You look through that new holo of yours and pick out a couple of places and we’ll take you there.” Poe said with a small grin. “A couple of weeks traveling with your favorite aunt and uncles.” Rey rolled her eyes at that but still nodded in confirmation when Caro looked to her with disbelieving awe. 

“Weeks?”

“Unfortunately the Generals and I do have work to do but we’re able to take a few weeks off to travel with you.” Rose explained with a smile. “We have some places in mind but we all figured you might want to pick some for yourself.” 

After a few moments of quiet thought he looked at Rey and asked “Is it okay if we leave for a few weeks?” The unspoken worry of their things and their life still being here upon coming back. This was also the part she was worried about. 

“I’m going to be staying behind.” She admitted as gently as possible, Caro’s face fell immediately. She felt his thoughts turn to panic and worry and disagreement but she spoke up again before he could say anything. “I want to come with you, believe me I do, but the Force is telling me I need to stay here. It has been for some time now, really ever since we met. Something is going to happen in the next few weeks that I need to be on Tatooine for. I don’t know what it is yet, but I can tell it’s important.”

“Then we’ll wait till after it happens.” He said with the stubborn tone of voice she was becoming far too familiar with. 

“If that is what you really want then that’s what we’ll do but I think, we all think, that you should still go without me. Like Rose said, it’s not easy for them all to get this much leave especially all at the same time.”  
  
“You do?” he asked, looking to all of them. 

“We do.” Finn agreed. “We want her there too buddy, trust me, but if the Force is saying she needs to be here, then she needs to be here.” 

“And it’ll be fun, a vacation away from your mo-” a sharp look from Rey had Poe correcting himself to “-guardian’s rules. Every kid wants that right? No bedtimes, no chores, just us on the Falcon and seeing the Galaxy. It’s a dream trip.” 

“It’ll be like being a pilot full time. That’s what you want to be when you grow up right?” Rose added, getting a nod in reply. 

“And if a few weeks turns out to be too long, I’ll be right here waiting when you come home.” Rey assured him. 

“Can I think about it?” He asked after a few moments.

“Why don’t you sleep on it kiddo and decide tomorrow? It’s getting late anyway, I think we could all use a good night’s sleep.” Poe suggested, stretching his arms over his head. 

They said their goodnights, Rey walking Finn, Poe and Rose out to their ship while Caro picked up the kitchen. They assured her that Caro would come around but all she could do was nod and pretend to agree. Truly she did not know what he would decide, this was a big step for him and it was a big request for her to make. But she’d not been lying before when she’d told him they’d wait. If he decided he didn’t want to leave without her then they’d try again once whatever was coming had passed. She hoped he would agree though, she really did think he would enjoy himself. 

“Are you mad at me?” he asked when she reentered the kitchen to help him finish cleaning up. 

“Of course not.” She told him immediately. “Do you want to talk to me about what you’re thinking?”

“You can find out anyway.” He shrugged, not meeting her eyes.

“But that would be an invasion of your privacy. So I won’t unless you give me permission. I’ll admit that sometimes you do project your thoughts and emotions and it’s impossible for me not to hear. But this time, I would rather you tell me than go searching. And if you don’t want to tell me, that’s okay too.” 

He didn’t say anything for a long few minutes after that, the only sound between them was the sound of washing dishes as they soniced them clean and put them away. She knows he is deep in thought and as he’d said, she could look if she really desired, but she told him she wouldn’t so she’d keep that promise. 

Finally, when the last dish was put back where it belonged he said “Is it a good thing or a bad thing that’s coming?”

She was confused for a moment but then realized what he meant. “I’m not sure.” She admitted. “But I think it might be a good thing. The last time it told me to stay here it was so that I could meet you.”

“Really?”

“Really.” She nodded. “So I think there might be someone else who needs us.” 

“You’re not trying to send me away?” He asked quietly, causing Rey to turn to look at him. His worry was pouring off of him in waves at the very thought.

“Oh Caro, no. It’s nothing like that. The reason I came up with this trip was all for you, I want to give you the chance to see the galaxy that I didn’t have when I was your age. I want nothing more than to be there with you but I am the last Jedi. I have to listen to the Force.”

“And the Force tells you that someone else is going to take my place?” 

“No, never. That is not-” She paused, trying to find the words. She’d given a lot of thought about what may be coming and had meditated endlessly over the vision she’d had on the way to Naboo and what it meant. She hadn’t told anyone about it but perhaps it was something worth sharing. 

“Caro, do you remember when you asked me about the Force on Naboo and I told you that sometimes it granted me glimpses into the future?” He nodded a little. “I had a vision on the way to Naboo. Can I tell you what I saw?” He didn’t say anything but anticipation thrummed in the air. “I saw both of us, several years from now, still happy and together. I saw you hugging two girls with so much love on your faces. I saw me, protecting you and the girls. Teaching you all. I saw all of us as a family. So no, whoever I meet, if I meet someone while you’re gone, they will never replace you. We’ll both just learn to let them into our hearts.” 

His eyes were shining as she drew him into a hug, she blinked away her own tears as his form shuddered with a sob. “I’m s-sor-ry” he managed through hiccups of breath, voice hitching on every syllable. She held him tight and shushed him gently, rubbing his back in what she hoped was a comforting gesture. 

When his breathing had nearly evened out she quietly said “I think it’s time for you to go to bed. You’ve got a lot to think about and sleep on.” He nodded against her chest in agreement but did not pull away. She gave a soft exhale of amusement and using the Force for a bit of extra strength, lifted him up. He readjusted of his own accord, wrapping his arms around her neck and laying his cheek to her shoulder. “Don’t get too used to this.” She muttered teasingly as she carried him to his bedroom. 

“I know.” he replied quietly, contented emotions bleeding from him. She caught glimpses of memories between them of his mother carrying him like this when he was younger. ‘ _Let me have this, just for now.’_ he was thinking. One of these days she really did need to teach him how to shield his thoughts, but for now she didn’t mind the hints into what he was thinking and feeling. 

She sat down on the edge of his bed and he untangled himself from around her, rubbing at his salt-stained eyes and cheeks. She gave him another hug and when he pulled back, she stood up. “Sleep well. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Rey?” 

“Yes?” 

“Thank you, for everything.” 

“You’re welcome. Good night Caro.”

“Good night.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The wedding will likely get it's own dedicated chapter in a side-story i'm planning for this fic that will be an anthology of one-shots.


	8. The Girl

“Be good for-”

“I will.”

“I know you will, I’m just, it’s strange that I’m not going with you.” She admitted.

Overnight, Caro had decided he would take them up on their offer and travel with his ‘Aunt and Uncles.’ That morning, Rey had helped him pack, offering suggestions and advice on how to dress for space travel. They’d realized rather quickly that he’d be bringing practically everything he owned for what was planned to be a three week trip. She resolved to getting more for him when he returned, though she was sure Poe might help in the endeavor and Caro may come back with more than he left with. Now that the days of uniforms and flight suits were behind them, Poe had developed an eye for fashion and Finn did nothing to discourage him, enabling him more often than not,

“I’ll comm every day.” Caro promised, hugging her tightly. 

“Stay out of trouble, and listen to whatever they say, especially when you end up getting into trouble.” 

“What makes you think we’ll get in trouble?” He asked.

“Because I know my friends.” she teased with an amused look.

He hugged her again and as he pulled away said “I’m excited to meet my sister, when you find her, tell her that okay?”

“I promise” She smiled, silently glad that he’d embraced the reason she was staying behind. 

With final words said he boarded the Falcon with a last wave at her. She returned it as Finn came to stand at her shoulder.

“We’ll keep him safe Rey.” He promised, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and pulling her to him. 

“I know. It’s the rest of the galaxy I’m worried about.”

Despite knowing they wouldn’t see, Rey waved as the Falcon’s sublights ignited and it lifted away from the sand. It’d been over a year since she’d been entirely alone, already she felt Caro’s presence in the Force fading, not completely but dimming enough with the distance that she felt its absence. 

“They’ll be fine.” She reminded herself as she returned inside. “They’ll be fine.”

She spent much of the next few days in meditation. Out of habit she always followed the thread that had once tied her to Ben, it never led anywhere, but still she followed until she was too disheartened by the lack of reply to follow any more. But in addition to that practice, she opened herself up to as much of Tatooine as she could, reaching out and searching for whatever or whoever was coming. Day after day though, she felt nothing.

A week passed. She got several holos and comms from the Falcon and from her friends, updating her on their travels and what was happening. Caro’s face and voice were filled with excitement each time she saw him. At the end of each call, he always gave her a pointed look, silently asking ‘Is she here yet?’ and every time Rey shook her head. She was starting to regret telling him, fearing that nothing would end up happening and that she had stayed behind for nothing.  
  
She went about her routine in the morning, earlier than before since she now had 63 vaporators to check and no second set of hands to help. One day, about two-thirds of the way through, she discovered a dozen vaporators on the outskirts of the property were missing their access panels and most of the important parts. The carbon scoring hinted that Jawas, the thieving little scoundrels, were the culprits. 

She kept her cool until she returned home to inventory her parts, only to find that she barely had enough to fix one or two, let alone all twelve. To get the amount she needed, she’d need to go all the way to Mos Espa. And she’d have to take the speeder instead of the much faster x-wing if she wanted to cargo space to even bring the parts back. It was only at this realization that she allowed herself a frustrated swear and stomp of her foot, acknowledging her anger. It would take her days to fix this, possibly longer, because blasted Jawa’s couldn’t keep their paws to themselves and scavenge the desert instead of her property. She wallowed in her anger for a few minutes more before taking a deep breath and letting it go. If there was one lesson she’d learned in all her Jedi training, it was not letting her anger control her. It also helped that the Scavenger in her blood was used to things going wrong and had long come to the knowledge that there was no point stewing in frustration when there was work to be done.

~  
  


Mos Espa was several times larger than Mos Eisley and functioned generally as the Capital city of Tatooine. It was also an entire day’s travel by the speeder away from the Homestead. In her time on Tatooine, Rey had only been here a handful of times. It was similar enough to Mos Eisley, though it did lack the prolific amount of crime, that wasn’t to say there was none, but it was at least far more subdued. She’d barely had to haggle with the docking attendant to reach a reasonable price for the fee and security on her speeder and even the innkeeper was quick enough to agree with the price she named. Perhaps it was because she, unlike many others, didn’t scream ‘off-worlder’ in the way she dressed and acted. 

She settled in for the night, enjoying a dinner she’d brought from home before settling on the sleeping pallet in her meditative position. Stepping into her meditation now was as easy as breathing, her surroundings falling away the minute she closed her eyes. Out on the salt flats by the homestead she often sensed raiders and womp rats, the only creatures outside the settlements. Here, in the heart of Mos Espa her awareness was filled with lifeforms of all varieties. She blocked the bulk of them out easily with a focused thought, leaving her alone with her breath. In her mind’s eye she saw the bond, stretching off into unfathomable end and gave it a cursory tug, the thread falling still mere moments later. Before she could reach out fully to the Force, a presence caught her attention, a glowing speck in the distance. Curious, Rey followed it as it grew in size and luminosity. What on Tatooine could be so bright with the Force? 

_“Here”_ The Force whispered _“Come”_ _“This”_ _“This!”_

It was what the Force had been hinting at, the girl she’d seen in the vision. She wasn’t just any girl, she was Force-Sensitive. Rey opened her eyes suddenly, stumbling from her mediation instead of gracefully pulling away. Taking Caro in had been one thing, but becoming a true teacher? She barely had training herself, how could she train another person? She called herself a Jedi, but could she really pass the knowledge on? Should she even consider it? There was no one left alive in the galaxy that held the sum of knowledge that she did, was it right of her to force that knowledge upon someone who may not want it? 

She stood from the pallet and in two steps was in front of the window overlooking the street below. Even after dark there were still creatures going about their business, taking advantage of the abetting heat to do last minute shopping, noise poured from the Cantina down the street and she could hear the murmur of voices from the stalls below as owners packed their wares up for the day. She was surrounded by more creatures here than anywhere else in her life, but still she felt the glaring loneliness that had been left behind by her teachers. 

“Be with me.” She whispered into the sky. “Please. Just give me something, anything.” 

Nothing but the wind carrying the sounds from the street answered her. 

Rey got very little sleep that night.

  
~

The next morning, despite the expectant feeling of the Force weighing on her mind, she went about her business. It took nearly the entire morning to find a shop that sold the parts she needed and didn’t want a fortune worth of credits for them, but even then they didn’t have the number she needed. She wished Caro was here, if not for the second set of hands to make the task go faster but also for the company. She hadn’t realized how used to being around someone she’d gotten, especially someone she could trust to shoulder some of her work. 

It was just after midday by the time she got the first batch of parts situated on the speeder, enough to fix five of the twelve vaporators. It wasn’t quite enough, but it was a start. At this rate, she’d be spending several days in Mos Espa. Which at least meant that if she really wanted, she had a little bit more time to decide if she was going to ignore the Force or not. The rational part of her brain said to find the girl, presumably named Mira, if her visions were to be believed. That, much like she’d told Caro, she was someone who needed help. It seemed simple enough when she broke it down like that. But the thing that threw a spanner in it was the Mira was Force-Sensitive. Which meant that Rey would have to at least train her somewhat. Sure in theory she had the ability but did she have the right? Would Mira even want to be trained? She’d hoped that Luke might come to her in the night, offering advice or at least guidance. He always liked to show himself when she needed him most, she appreciated that about him, but she’d heard nothing but silence. 

She imagined his voice well enough ‘You’re overthinking this Rey.’ he would say. ‘Trust the Force and yourself.’ Leia would not have been so patient, she would have called Rey’s worries a waste of time in that blunt, no-nonsense tone of hers that always managed to still be caring. They both would have told her to do what she thought was right. She knew what was right, helping the girl find a home and a family was the right thing to do. Leaving a child on the street because of her own selfish fears was not something Rey could justify. With that understanding, how could she really choose anything else? 

Instead of turning back towards the markets and shops to find more parts, Rey reached out with the Force to find the glimmering spark that had caught her attention last night. Force-Sensitive or not, it was the will of the Force for Rey to find this girl and give her a home. 

It was more difficult than she’d expected to follow the Force while simultaneously keeping aware of her surroundings in a place as chaotic as this. In the past, the task had been simple, as easy as breathing, reach out but remain present, balance on the line between meditation and awareness. On Ajan Kloss she’d used this trick all the time to find Leia on the base or Luke during her time on Ahch-to. She had not taken into account that in either of those places, there had never been more than a few hundred people at most, let alone the several thousand that inhabited Mos Espa. She’d had curses directed at her in half a dozen languages when she fell too deep into her mediation and ran into someone and had lost her path several times when she strayed too far from the Force. It was beyond frustrating for her, she could only imagine what an untrained Force-user might be feeling with no mental shields to keep the presence of lifeforms at a manageable level. Eventually though, the crowds began to thin as she left the market districts and moved into the more residential areas. 

The strain on her shields faded slowly as the spark grew brighter, as though it was calling to her. She let herself lean further on the Force now that there were less people for her to get distracted by, actively reaching towards the source, the spark flickering in response.

 _“I’m here”_ It seemed to say. _“You found me.”_

She was in an alleyway filled with hanging fabric drying in the midday sun. The din of noise from the main streets had faded somewhat and were it not for the Force telling her otherwise, she’d have thought she was alone. She pushed aside a curtain of colorfully patterned fabric and there she was, the girl from her vision, skin dirty and honey-brown hair knotted but still the same girl Rey had seen.

For a long moment they stared at each other, the Force sparkling between them. It was raw and turbulent as it came off of the girl, the Force wild and untamed. Rey wondered if this was what she had felt like to Ben on Takodana or to Luke on Ahch-To. Finally the girl took a step closer, looking up at her, she was small and so much younger than Caro. Rey saw snippets from her mind, dreams of the same life Rey had seen, flashes of herself in the girls memories, but surrounded by uncertainty at what they were and what they meant, what this feeling was. Both of them had been led to each other, the Force had willed it to be so. 

Letting instinct guide her, Rey crouched down and reached out a hand, a soft smile on her face. Suddenly her voice was not her own, her words those of another though the way in which they were spoken was so much kinder, gentler than when she herself had heard them, a reassurance now instead of a threat.

“Don’t be afraid, I feel it too.” 

How many times has Rey been on the opposite end of this exchange, the one making the choice to take a hand instead of the one reaching out? How many times had she kept herself awake at night wondering what could have changed, what damage could have been prevented if she had taken Kylo Ren’s hand when he’d offered? Could Ben Solo have survived if she had taken his hand above Kijimi? Could she have helped him sooner if she’d taken his hand on the Supremacy? So much potential and choice was tied to such a simple gesture but the child before her now did not hesitate or turn away as Rey had when presented with the choice. Instead she stepped forward and slipped her tiny, dust coated hand into Rey’s calloused one with a smile.

In the back of Rey’s awareness, the thread that disappeared into the ether of the Force finally tugged back.


	9. The Change

Meeting Mira goes much differently than it did with Caro. There is no convincing, no promising, no questions, just trust. Had the Force not been involved, Rey would have been worried. She leads Mira back to the inn, stopping to grab some food for them on the way. Mira says next to nothing on the journey but radiates shining contentment.  _ “It’s you. It was always meant to be you.” _ is the only explanation Rey can find from her gentle probing of Mira’s thoughts. 

“What’s your name?” Rey asks, despite knowing, wanting to incite some sort of conversation. 

“Mira, and yours is Rey.” She replies and again if not for her understanding of the Force, Rey would have been disconcerted. 

“How did you know?” To what level does Mira understand the Force and how it’s at play between them? Does she realize it is what led them to each other?

“I just know. I’ve always known.” She shrugged. Force did Rey envy the casual way children could treat complicated things. “I’ve seen you in my head. You’re my mommy.” 

Rey froze in her tracks, Mira took a few further steps before realizing, turning to look at Rey with a curious cock of her head. “Mira,” Rey began slowly, trying to figure out the way she wanted to break the truth. But again, the girl beat her to it.

“I know I didn’t come from your tummy but you’re supposed to be my mommy. My dreams said so.” And really what could Rey say to that? So instead she said nothing.

They arrived at the Inn and Rey led Mira inside and up the stairs to her room. Clearly the dreams were a result of the Force, but there was no way Mira had been seeing Rey for very long. Rey had only really been aware of the Force for two or so years herself. Stars, had it really only been two years ago that she’d been on Jakku?

“How long have you been having your dreams Mira?” She asked, pulling food from her bag and setting it on the table. 

She shrugged, taking the food placed in front of her without hesitation, a far cry from how Caro had acted at first, cautious of his every move and word in fear that Rey might send him away. Mira on the other hand, spoke and acted with no reluctance, confident in her belief that she was supposed to be with Rey. Her blind trust in the Force almost made Rey jealous, she still doubted the Force from time to time, but this girl, who didn’t even know what the Force was besides a feeling in her head had no such qualms. But how did she come to recognize it? What was her story? 

Rey was certain she’d been living on the streets, the state of her confirmed that, and despite her trust, there were small tells and quirks in her actions that told of a difficult life. She ate quickly and without care as to what was before her, marks of someone without a reliable source of food. Her hair was unkempt and greasy, sandy dirt crusted her skin, the simple cloth dress she wore was tattered and stained, the edges fraying from lack of upkeep. She was of an age that she should be in an orphanage, Caro had aged out, but Mira was clearly young enough. How had this happened to her? 

“Do you know where your mother and father are?” 

“I never had a mommy or daddy. That’s why you're my mommy.”

“Surely you had someone to take care of you?” 

This was the question that finally gave Mira pause, her eyes falling from the loaf of bread in her hands to the table. Slowly she nodded “There were ladies that took care of lots of kids who didn’t have mommies and daddies. They used to take care of me. But then I started making stuff happen and they didn’t like it so they told me to stop but I couldn’t so they made me leave.” 

One of these days Rey really needed to have a conversation with someone about the Orphanages on Tatooine. How many other children had been forced out onto the streets for ridiculous reasons or because they’d aged out at an age still too young to be alone?

“Well Mira,” Rey said, smiling softly. “I’m glad we finally found each other. I’ve had dreams about you too.”

“You did?” Mira perked up, joy spilling from her so suddenly Rey couldn’t help but let her smile widen. 

“I did. See, that feeling you get? The one that tells you what to do sometimes? That gives you your dreams? The one that led us together?” Mira nodded “It’s called the Force. Not everyone has it, but I do and you do. You can do all sorts of amazing things with it once you learn how to control it.” Before either of them could say anything else Rey’s comm began to chime. 

She pulled it from her belt, and glanced at the chrono on the bedside table, at this hour it was likely the Falcon, though there were very few others who would contact her anyway.

“This is Rey.” 

“Rey!” Caro’s voice nearly shouted. “Guess where we went today!” 

Mira’s eyes widened, curiosity palpable. “I’m not sure but I think you’ll tell me.” Rey answered with a patient smile, even though Caro couldn’t see it. 

“Cato Nemoda” 

“Neimoidia!” Poe’s voice called from somewhere nearby, Rey’s smile falling slightly. Cato Neimoidia was a planet known for its criminal underworld, much like Tatooine, why Poe had thought it a place to take a child was beyond her. 

“Yeah! Cato Neimoidia!” Caro corrected without pause. “It was so cool! Everything was hanging from bridges and there were these trains that connected the different parts of the city and we saw an awesome race!” 

“I’m glad you enjoyed yourself. Where are you headed next?” Rey asked, looking back at Mira. The girl seemed highly interested, her expression looking as though she was trying to piece together what was going on and who Rey was speaking to. 

“Chandrila, Rose said they have to have a meeting with someone there but Finn is going to stay with me and we’re going to explore Hanna City. What did you do today?” 

“Well, yesterday when I was checking the vaporators, I discovered that someone had damaged a dozen of them beyond what I could fix with what we had at home, so I’m in Mos Espa getting parts.” 

“Who broke them? I bet it was Jawa’s wasn’t it.” 

“I think so, carbon scoring on the access panels.” 

“Kriffing Jawas”

“Language Caro.” 

“Sorry. So you’re in Mos Espa right now?” 

“I am, probably will be for a few more days. I was only able to get some of the parts we need.”   
  
“And did you, meet anyone?” He asked in the same hopeful tone of voice he always did when he asked. 

Mira looked confused at the question, Rey smiled at her as she said “I did. I found her.” 

She heard Caro gasp and then he shouted “Rey found my sister!” though it seemed that the statement was directed at the people he was with rather than her. The com abruptly disconnected and a moment later the incoming holocall chime filled the air. Rey chuckled and accepted it, Caro’s face materializing in blue light above the device. “Can I meet her?” He asked without preamble. 

Mira’s eyes were wide in surprise and for the first time since they’d met, uncertainty. Apparently whatever visions and dreams she’d had did not prepare her for Caro, or at least not in this capacity. 

“Give us a moment Caro.” Rey said, muting the holocall as she set the emitter aside and turned to Mira.

“Who is that?” Mira asked.

“His name is Caro, I found him a year ago in Mos Eisley. He’s an orphan like you, though he doesn’t have the Force like we do. Technically he’s my mechanics apprentice but really I’m just his guardian that happens to be teaching him some things. He’s on a trip right now with my friends in my ship for his name day. I was going to go with them but the Force told me to stay behind to meet you. He knew why I was staying and he is very excited to meet you. He’s been asking about his ‘sister’ ever since I told him.” 

“I didn’t see anyone else but you in my dreams.” She admitted. 

“I did. I saw Caro and you and another girl who I haven’t met yet. You see, I didn’t have a mother or father growing up either. I didn’t have a family until a few years ago but now, we’re making our own. Is that alright?”

She was quiet for a minute, thinking the new developments over. “I’ve never had a brother.” 

“And he’s never had a sister. But I think you’ll both enjoy having someone your age around. He’s very kind and very clever. I think you’ll really like him. Would it be alright if he introduced himself?” 

Mira chewed her lip but then nodded without a word. Rey smiled a little and grabbed the emitter. Caro was looking at something out of her view though he looked back when she reappeared on his end. She unmuted him and carried the emitter over to the table. 

“Caro, this is Mira. Mira, this is Caro.” She started the introductions as she set the emitter in front of Mira so she was the one in view rather than herself. 

“Hi! My name’s Caro. I’m really happy to finally meet you.” He spoke with the same enthusiasm Rey expected but he’d calmed his excitement slightly, likely after realizing she was shy. 

“I’m Mira.” She replied softly, still obviously uncertain. 

“I don’t what Rey told you but I’ve been asking her nonstop if she’d found you yet. She told me she had to stay home because the Force told her that she was going to meet you and I was pretty upset because I really wanted her to come on this trip with us but I’m glad she found you.”

“I found her too. My dreams told me I would.” 

“You have visions too?” His eyes widened in surprise, Mira nodding in confirmation. “Whoa that’s so cool! Do you have the Force like Rey does?” 

She shrugged and looked to Rey, who nodded. “I guess.” 

“That’s awesome! Rey showed me some of the stuff she can do with the Force. Has she shown you how to do anything yet?” 

“We were talking about it when you called.” She was still quiet but looked less and less unsure with each passing second. 

“It’s super cool! She can float stuff and see the future sometimes and she can feel stuff around her, makes it impossible to win at hide and seek so don’t even bother trying and one time she even made me fly!” 

“Really?” Her uncertainty was growing into interest and Rey couldn’t help but smile. She’d known they would get along, Caro was so easy going it would be hard for him to not get along with anyone, but even after just this short conversation she could tell that they would be close. 

They talked about everything and nothing in the way kids were able, Rey simply just listening to them interact, unable to keep the smile from her face. She’d been having occasional motherly thoughts for months now despite her consistent attempts to ignore them. But still her heart thumped with happy contentment at ‘her kids’ getting along. Her reluctance to consider herself Caro’s mother had stemmed from her own inexperience with having one and the fact that he had memories of his birth mother. But yet again, Mira was the contradiction to this. She had no memories of her own parents and had already fashioned Rey into a mother figure due to her visions. She would likely have no issues with referring to Rey as her mother, it was Rey who had the hesitation. What was the difference though? What difference did it make calling herself their mother versus their guardian if she behaved the exact same either way? There was no reason to really call herself their mother, it would really only cause confusion wouldn’t it? No, she was not their mother. They had mothers even if they weren’t part of their lives anymore. She was their guardian and nothing more.

Eventually Caro was pulled away when dinner was being served on the Falcon, reluctantly he said his goodbyes to both Mira and Rey and reminded Mira for the umpteenth time how excited he was to meet her in person when they returned to Tatooine. This time, Mira returned the sentiment, both children smiling widely as the holo disappeared. Caro’s call had come during the middle of their own dinner. Rey had finished hers while Mira had been talking and encouraged her now to finish her own before they went to bed. 

When it came time to actually sleep, the suns long ago having set, Rey decided to broach the topic of meditation to Mira. 

“You just sit and think?” the girl asked, a look of displeasure on her face at the thought of something so boring.

“Sort of, it’s a way to communicate and feel the Force. It’s how I like to think about things and sometimes I get answers from the Force. That’s how I found you. Last night when I was meditating you were there like a glowing spark, I could feel you in the Force. I like to meditate before bed because it helps calm my thoughts before I sleep.” 

“I don’t really get it.” Mira admitted. 

“That’s alright. Why don’t you just get some sleep then? I’ll be there in a little bit.” Mira yawns and nods, wishing her a quiet goodnight as she curls up on the sleeping pallet. 

When Rey closes her eyes and reaches out, the glowing spark she’d begun to associate with Mira is almost sparkling with energy. Sooner or later Rey really did need to convince her to meditate, if only to calm her Force energy. Soon enough however the spark turned into a steady glow as she fell asleep and Rey used that as a point to focus on. In her mind's eye, Mira’s glow was settled just off to the side of where Rey found herself, on the opposite side of the thread. She gave the thread her customary tug but turned her focus away without waiting for it to still once more. She settled in to try and contact Luke, aiming to get advice for training Mira but something thrummed in her awareness. She pulled her attention from Luke and back to the present. Mira’s glow was still calm and steady, the girl still fast asleep but the thread, the thread that was normally still unless she acted on it was vibrating with energy. 

She stood in the Force plain and tentatively grasped the strand. When had it stopped being a delicate thread and instead become a sturdy rope? How had she not noticed such a change? Had she gotten so used to being alone that she hadn’t noticed when things had started to change and grow stronger?  _ “Ben?” _ Rey called out cautiously. The bond did not still but nor did it’s vibration grow.  _ “Ben?” _ She called out again, receiving no change once more. Rey glanced back at Mira’s glow, could the presence of another Force sensitive be causing this? Tentatively, Rey gave the bond a slow and steady pull, as if reeling something in. She’d tried it before to no avail, as though the thread had been wrapped around an immovable object. But as she pulled, her eyes widened as the bond moved with her hand, no longer was there something immovable on the other end. Eagerly she grabbed it with her other hand and started to pull, hand over hand, the excess rope disappearing the moment it fell to her feet. With each pull her heart raced faster and faster, her patience had been rewarded! Ben was on the other side! He had to be! 

She nearly stumbled forward when the bond suddenly had no more slack to give. The smooth movement halted no matter how hard she pulled. She jerked it sharply  _ “Please. Please give me this.”  _ another tug yielding no movement. The bond still stretched forward endlessly as though her work had done nothing.  _ “Please!”  _ She cried, tugging again fruitlessly. She fell to her knees, hands still grasping the rope.  _ “Be with me” _ she begged, pulling more weakly.  _ “Be with me” _ each iteration her words and efforts grew softer, her limbs slumping with disappointment. One hand fell from the rope  _ “Be with me”  _ the other hand followed with the whispered plea. The bond remained in front of her, still and steady. On her hands and knees before the rope, head hung in disappointment she whispered again  _ “Be with me, please Ben.”  _

_ “Rey?” _


	10. The Guardian

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter brought to you by the Guardian of the Whills Suite from Rogue One and Sleeping at Last's tribute song to the Spitzer telescope, January 30,2020: Spitzer-Final Voyage.

Rey doesn’t remember falling asleep. In all honesty she doesn’t usually sleep all that well, too many years spent on military bases with specific sleeping schedules and in her AT-AT with no security to keep out would be thieves. She wakes slowly, head groggy and Ben’s voice repeating her name endlessly. Next to her she feels someone shuffle, Mira, she realizes after a moment. The events of the prior day come back as she slowly sits up, Mira muttering something in her sleep. Rey works her way up carefully, trying to disturb the girl as little as possible. 

She wants to meditate again, had what she’d experienced last night been a dream? She’d felt the change in the bond, she’d heard Ben’s voice, something _ had _ changed last night. But why now? What had triggered it? Was it because she’d finally found Mira and that she had the Force? Or was it simply a matter of her patience being rewarded? She wanted to do nothing but delve into the Force and spend the whole day trying to find the answers but she didn't have that kind of time right now. 

She looked back at the sleeping pallet at Mira. The Inn didn’t have a shower, sonic or otherwise, only a basin and pitcher of water, not nearly enough to clean her up completely. They’d either have to pay for a communal shower or wait until the homestead. Her plan originally had been to get the supplies she needed for the vaporators no matter how long it took but it had taken her a good majority of the prior day to get the parts for five of the twelve. Could she really ask Mira to just stay around here until she had what she needed? Did she really need to get the parts now? Did she need all 63 vaporators in perfect working condition? It’s not like they were actual moisture farmers who needed to sell the water or its byproducts to make a living. Surely seven of twelve, if she included what she already had at home, was enough? Not even counting the other 51 that were in working order. 

Rey nodded to herself, no they wouldn’t stay in Mos Espa another day. If she really decided they wanted to fix the others, it could wait till Caro was home. She hadn’t unpacked much in the room, having not brought much to begin with but also she hadn’t been planning to stay long. Still she busied herself packing what little she could. There was still a bit of time before the suns rose, she could afford to let Mira sleep until they did and take this time to meditate for herself. 

Luke had always counseled a calm mind when entering mediation, seek guidance but don’t expect it, the Force gives and shows what it wills, they as Jedi do not control it. It was one of the most frustrating things she’d had to learn and it had taken her a long time to accept. Today she was especially having a difficult time reaching that place of calm. After what had happened last night, she was full of expectation. More than anything she wanted to see Ben or at the least hear his voice again. He’d done or maybe they’d done it, once, they could do it again. 

“Be with me.” She whispered, taking slow breaths to calm the excited racing of her heart. Repeating the mantra to delve into her meditation was familiar enough that her body and mind eventually realized her intentions. On the next inhale she was in the Force plain, Mira’s steady glow to left and the bond before her. The strand had become closer to a rope after last night and even without her prodding, was fluctuating gently as if there were a soft breeze. Proof that something had truly changed last night, she hadn’t dreamt it. Gently she wrapped her hand around it and pulled softly, it gave way only a slight amount before becoming taut once again, but this time, a moment later something pulled back. She rose to her feet and with a twirl of her wrist, wrapped a section of the rope around her hand, she couldn’t pull it any further but now there was a defined end or else nothing could have pulled back. 

She began to walk along the line, wrapping it around herself like she’d once done with her rappelling ropes on Jakku, ready to unwind at any moment. She gave experimental tugs to see if there was a reflected reply on the other end and was shocked and delighted when without fail, something or someone answered. Beside her still she felt Mira’s glow, growing steadily brighter as she woke up but Rey was far too focused on the bond to pay much attention. On and on she went, the rope she’d collected to this point never growing past a certain size until there was suddenly no more to give. Visually it still looked to stretch on forever, taut and strong, but when she tried to wrap it around her hand as she’d been doing there was no more give. She pulled once more and while there was an answering tug, she could go no further. Almost immediately her thoughts started to turn negative but she caught herself quickly, this had been progress, more progress than the night prior. If this was what it took to reach Ben, bits of progress at a time, then so be it. Somewhat reluctantly she let the section of rope she’d collected fall, watching it disappear upon hitting the floor. Ahead of her, the bond stretched on, presumably unaffected but a hum of the Force confirmed her thoughts, progress had been made.

Mira’s steady glow had turned to a crackling sparkle now that she was waking so Rey took one last deep breath and stepped away from the Force plain and back to awareness. When she opened her eyes Mira was sitting cross legged on the pallet, eyes trained on her. Trying to hide her surprise Rey simply said “Good morning.” 

“Was your meditating making everything feel all-” she wiggled her fingers in the air “like this?” 

Rey blinked in surprise at the question. She knew something had changed in the Force but had it really been strong enough for Mira to feel it? “I’d assume so.” She eventually answered. Mira looked thoughtful but didn’t say anything else, her thoughts flitting away to something new before Rey even has a chance to try and get a read.

“I was thinking we might go home today,” Rey started to say but Mira interrupted her, eyes wide.

“You mean he wasn’t teasing? I actually get to come home with you?” On their call last night Caro had described the homestead at length, telling her everything he could think of in his excitement to share. 

“Of course you do, if you want to that is. I won’t make you do anything you want to do. But if you want, I’d like to take you back home with me and be your guardian like I am Caro’s. He and I have each other and I have friends, the one’s he’s traveling with right now, who visit. There’s always work to be done but you’ll always have food and people who care about you.”

After living with Caro for a year Rey really should have been used to spontaneous hugs, but when Mira practically flew into Rey’s lap they both fell to the ground in a heap. A sense of belonging rolled from the girl as her arms wrapped around Rey’s waist and she laid her head on Rey’s chest. “ _ Be my family. Yes. It’s all I want.”  _ Rey stroked Mira’s hair, uncaring of the dirt. She was certainly getting used to the quick, darting way Mira’s thoughts flashed through the Force.

They took a few minutes to pack up what little Rey hadn’t already taken care of and went down to pay, Mira’s eyes widening at the credits in Rey’s pouch. It really wasn’t all that much, but to someone used to begging for scraps like Mira, it would seem a fortune. 

Mira took Rey’s hand as they left the inn, radiating contentment and joy in contagious waves. Rey led the way to the docking bay, stopping at a food stall to get them each some sort of pastry filled with a fruity jam. It wasn’t much for breakfast but having a consistent meals where she once had few was something Mira definitely couldn’t be used to. She let go of Rey’s hand to munch on her pastry as they walked, sticking close to her side. They were in the market district when she suddenly stopped at the mouth of an alleyway. 

“Mira? What is it?” Rey asked, reaching out with the Force to see what Mira might be sensing. 

“I should say goodbye. She’ll be worried if I don’t.” 

“Who?” 

“Grandmother.” Mira said simply, turning and walking down the alley.

Rey’s heart clenched as she followed. Did Mira actually have a family? Or at least part of one that  _ would _ miss her if she left Mos Espa. Nothing Mira had said to this point had indicated such but if she had a grandmother why wouldn’t she want to stay with her?

Rey said nothing as she followed Mira through the winding alleys, waiting a few feet back when Mira stopped at a door no different than any of the others. She knocked lightly, a few moments later the door cracked open and Mira waved with a bright smile. The door swung open further and out stepped an old woman wrapped in a dingy purple shawl. She crouched down in front of Mira and wrapped her arms around the girl, engulfing her in the expanse of the fabric around her shoulders. 

“Child, you worried me.” The woman said, Mira leaning into her hold with familiarity and comfort. Rey ignored the flash of jealousy that struck her, the same one that always reared its head when she witnessed anyone have a familial moment. 

“I’m sorry Grandmother. I just wanted to tell you that I’m leaving.” the woman pulled away, confusion etched among the lines on her face at Mira’s words. “I found my family.” Mira explained further and the confused lines softened and crinkled to smile lines around her eyes. Her gaze fell on Rey then and uncertain what to do, Rey inclined her head slightly in greeting. 

“I see. You’ve found who you were meant to find. Or did they perhaps find you?” The woman said to Mira, a wry smile twisting on her lips. “Come, introduce me child.” Mira broke from her arms and ran to Rey, grabbing her by both hands and dragging her over.

“Let us speak over tea, the sun and sand is no place for an introduction.” Her words left no room for argument so soon Rey found herself inside sitting cross-legged on a cushion flattened with age, a cup of tea in her hands. 

“My name is Shani.” The woman spoke, joining Rey on the floor with Mira close at her heels, a tray with more tea held carefully in her small hands. 

“I’m Rey.” 

“No family name?” The woman, Shani, asked knowingly.

Rey blinked and hesitated for a moment “I’ve taken the name Skywalker.” 

Shani nodded sagely “A name with legacy, no doubt earned and bestowed upon you. So tell me Rey Skywalker, has the child told you of her dreams?” 

‘You know of the Skywalkers?’ Rey wants to ask, too concerned with that statement to really hear the question that followed it. Luke Skywalker became something of a figure of myth in the collective history of the galaxy but Rey knew now that it was all true, every story of the Skywalker family line and the Jedi, how much could Shani possibly know?

Rey’s interest must have shown on her face for Shani chuckled softly. “I suppose I could explain who I am before questioning you of your identity. I was a child during the height of the Jedi Order and of the Republic. I have lived through many wars and battles and many masters both on Tatooine and in this galaxy. The Skywalker name is an infamous one and has been all my life. Jedi General Skywalker in the Clone Wars and then as the man who would bring ruin upon them all, Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker in the time of the Empire and then as a Jedi Master who failed in his chosen path and now you, young Rey, the Last of the Jedi.” She paused to take a sip of her tea, expectancy in her eyes. 

“You know of the Jedi then?”

Shani nodded “The ancestral home of my family was a planet called Jedha, the ancient home of the Jedi Order, now a desert world longer habitable after the Empire’s reach destroyed the Holy City. We were not Jedi but still we were guardians, Guardians of the Whills of the Force.” 

Rey reached out with the Force and Shani gave another soft chuckle. “I feel your reach child but cannot answer. My family,  _ My _ order, we trust and believe in the Force but cannot commune with it as you and young Mira can. There are few of us left, scattered from the remains of Jedha across the galaxy, so few in number that our order is all but extinct, the last vestiges of our belief system turned to legend instead of truth. So I chose to become not just a Guardian of the Whill, but of those who could not guard themselves.” 

Mira is visibly engrossed by Shani’s words but Rey understands what she is saying. Luke had briefly mentioned the Guardian’s of the Whills in his lectures to her but hadn’t explained past them being another religious order that believed and trusted in the Force. He’d made a grumbled comment about them being closer to what the Jedi should have been compared to what they were when they went extinct but that had been all. The Jedi had been keepers of the peace that had been drafted into a war they never should have joined and that had led to their ultimate downfall, from what Rey understood the Guardians had never strayed from their tenants of peace and trust in the Force despite none of them actually being Force sensitive. 

“You watch over them.” Rey stated, glancing at Mira. 

“I do what I am able. After Jabba’s removal from power, Mos Espa is left mostly alone by the Hutt’s. The Orphanage here does a well enough job with what resources they have but they cannot feed every mouth. It is as the Force wills that children find their way to my door when they have nowhere else to turn. But I return now Rey Skywalker to my question to you. What has the child told you of her dreams?” 

Mira looked up from her cup and smiled at Rey. “Grandmother helped me understand the dreams. She told me that someone would come for me.” 

“So she has told you then? That you are the one the Force has willed to care for her? To be the Mother her own could not be?” 

Rey nodded slightly but then glanced at Mira before turning her eyes back to Shani. “I am no one’s mother, I have no right to be. But I will care for her, the same way I care for my,” she hesitated, her tongue tripping over what could be the word ‘son’ “for the other child I have given a home to.”

“I have a brother!” Mira explained proudly. 

Shani raised a perceptive eyebrow at the way Rey stumbled over her words. But smiled at Mira “That is wonderful news little one, I am happy for you.” The woman then reached out a wrinkled hand to take Rey’s own. “Do you not yet trust the Force young Skywalker? It has brought you into the lives of not one child but two who need a family. Allow yourself to trust that it was for good reason and that you deserve what it has given you.”

“I do.” Rey hurried to explain.

“Then why do you hesitate? Trust in the Force and all it brings. It will guide you to who you need most when the time is right.” There was a significance in her gaze now, something telling Rey that Shani was not just talking about Caro or Mira. “I have said and learned all that I need. Now I will let you go on to your new home. Care for her well Rey Skywalker. I put my trust in you as the Last Jedi as I put my trust in the Force.” 

She stood and Rey followed, Mira instead hugging Shani around the waist. “I’ll miss you Grandmother.” 

“And I you child, but it is as you said. You have found your family. There is nothing more that I can give than that.” Mira pulled away, moving to stand at Rey’s side. 

“Thank you, for taking care of her. I promise to look after her. And I will take your advice to heart.” Rey said, bowing to the old woman. 

Shani smiled, eyes sparkling and wrinkles furrowing around them. She placed a hand on each of their shoulders. “Always remember, you are one with the Force and that the Force is with you. Let it guide you and trust where it leads.”

_ “A thousand generations live in you now” _ _ “The Force surrounds you.”  _ “ _ Let it guide you, as it guided us.”  _ Shani meets her eyes as though she too could hear the voices of the Jedi in her head. 

“Trust the Force Rey.” She repeats. Rey nods, surprised at the slight sting of tears welling up in her eyes. 

She felt Mira take her hand, the girl looking up to her.  _ “It brought me to you.” _

“Travel safe and be well, May the Force be With you both.” Shani said finally, removing her hands from them and bowing her head. 

“And also with you.” Rey responds automatically, wiping away the single stray tear that had fallen. She’d never had a Grandmother, but she supposed that Shani wouldn’t be upset with Rey thinking of her as such. 

Then, Rey turned to Mira, squeezed her hand and said “Let’s go home.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter also brought to you by Billie Eilish because I said so.


	11. The Siblings

The suns had set when the dome of the homestead appeared silhouetted on the horizon. Mira, much like Caro, had been elated during the first few hours of the trip. The prospect of travelling and being in the speeder was more exciting than most anything she’d ever experienced. But as the hours and the desert stretched on, boredom set in for the girl until eventually she was dozing in the passenger seat. They’d stopped in Mos Eisley for dinner, Mira falling asleep again shortly after they’d gotten back in the speeder. Once Rey parked the speeder, she gently took Mira into her arms, the girl adjusting herself slightly. 

“Let’s get you cleaned up and then you can sleep, I promise.” Rey told her quietly as she input the security codes. BB-8 rolled to greet them as she descended the stairs, beeping excitedly at Mira’s presence. 

“In the morning BB.” Rey told the droid, patting his dome. “Turn on the generator please?” The droid beeped an affirmation and rolled off to his task. Right now the homestead only had two bedrooms, Caro’s and her own, so Mira would temporarily have to stay in her room with her. She didn’t mind though. 

Mira blinked blearily when Rey set her down in the ‘fresher to turn the shower on. “Are we home?” She asked, rubbing her eyes.

“We are.” Rey confirmed with a smile. “I’ll give you a tour in the morning, right now let's get you clean and in bed.” 

Mira had never used a sonic shower so Rey stayed and helped her, carefully untangling the worst of the knots in Mira’s hair with her fingers. It took two cycles to scrub her of the dirt, sand and general grime on her skin and in her hair but when Rey finally turned the sonic off she could visibly see the difference a shower had made. Mira’s honey-brown hair is shiny, her skin smooth with her youth though there is a hollowness to her face and body that hints at malnutrition. Rey found the smallest tunic she owned and then carried Mira to her bed after helping her dress, the girl already yawning again. She settled Mira in her lap and gently combed through her hair, removing the last of the knots and tangles. With each stroke of the comb she can feel Mira inching closer to sleep, her Force presence calming from its dazzling sparkle. Even when the comb meets no resistance as Rey cards it down Mira’s back she keeps the motion up until Mira’s weight is fully supported by Rey and she’s entirely asleep. Carefully Rey laid Mira down and draped a thin blanket over her before going into the ‘fresher to get herself ready for bed. 

The next week and a half pass in a blur of laughter and getting Mira comfortable. She delights in BB-8, the droid quickly deciding he liked her and needed to accompany her everywhere. Rey works with Mira to repurpose one of the storage rooms into a bedroom, she’d have to share the ‘fresher with Caro but she’d have a bed and space of her own. Rey did consider that eventually the Twi’lek girl she’d seen in her vision would come into their lives and would need her own bed, but they could cross that bridge when they got to it. Mira doesn’t know anything about fixing things but she does know about cooking and helping in the kitchen thanks to Shani which leads Rey to show her the small garden she and Caro had worked to cultivate. Mira quickly dives in and takes it for her own, tending to it more than really necessary. She’s enthusiastic to say the least. 

After a few days of trying to occupy herself when Rey meditated, Mira decided she’d actually give it a try. Both she and Rey are pleasantly surprised when it comes to her easier than they’d expected. She starts to experiment with reaching out with the Force, Rey feeling the weak touches against her own mind that tell of Mira’s practice. 

For Rey’s part, she spends every moment of her mediation pulling at the bond in every way she can conceive, trying to pull the other end closer and closer. Each night she achieves a little more but still, no sign of an end in sight. 

They also create a routine between them, Rey combing Mira’s hair every night before the girl can fall asleep. It keeps Mira up a little bit later, she insists on meditating with Rey and then in Rey helping her get ready for bed, but really where was the harm? She’s just glad Mira doesn’t insist on a story because Rey only knows a handful, none of which appropriate for a child’s bedtime story. 

The day comes that Caro is set to return home but Rey chooses not to tell Mira, figuring she might appreciate the surprise. Caro had commed them every night without fail, regaleing them both with tales of the adventures he’d been on and the planets he’d seen. The way he tells it, they hadn’t gotten into trouble once. Rey knows better. 

Rose had commed her one night after Mira had gone to bed and admitted that they had run into a little issue when they’d stopped to refuel on the edge of Hutt Space. The Falcon was a bit too recognizable in such notorious smuggler areas and they’d been boarded. She was quick to assure Rey that nothing had happened and that she and Caro had hidden in the smuggling compartments while Poe and Finn talked them out of danger. She also admitted to Rey that the men had sworn Caro to secrecy so that Rey wouldn’t find out. None of them had really known how she would react so they’d decided to keep it from her. It was Rose who’d insisted that she’d be more angry if she found out by accident instead of on purpose. She’d been right of course and since no one was hurt, Rey shrugged and let it go, she’d expected them to get in trouble one way or another after all. She did request that Rose not tell the men that she knew, deciding she’d give them her punishment in time. 

The Falcon flies overhead just after lunchtime. Rey had sensed it when they’d broken atmo, Caro’s presence in the Force was tiny compared to Mira’s but that was countered by Rey’s familiarity with it. She’d kept back from sighing happily when she felt it’s return to her mind, taking up the place that had been faded with the distance apart. Mira, who had gotten better at sensing lifeforms in general, had looked up from the garden where she’d been working when four more lifeforms had entered her awareness. She’d gone to find Rey, somewhat worried but at the smile on Rey’s face and the happiness in her eyes had quickly realized what was going on. Together they’d rushed out of the homestead, BB-8 on their heels. 

The Falcon landed gracefully on the sand, whipping up dust as it did. When the dust settled, the ramp was already lowering, Caro waiting at the top. He’s off and running before it’s fully on the ground. 

“Rey!” She’s prepared for his embrace for once and opens her arms wide to meet him, grasping him tightly and spinning them both around. When they come to a stop, she just holds him for a minute, basking in the feeling of both him and Mira beside her. 

“Rey” he whines without really meaning it when he tries to pull away but she doesn’t let him. She holds him a second more but then releases him, stepping away. He turns to look at Mira, a gentle smile stretching across his face. She’d been excited to finally meet him, as excited as he was, it was all they’d talked about on his calls. But now, when actually faced with it, she’d been hit with a bout of shyness.

For a long moment neither child moves, they’re both familiar enough to one another but neither are brave enough to take the first step. Then, Caro opened his arms to her and Mira smiled, jumping into his embrace. 

Rey watches the interaction with hope and joy, the Force singing with rightness around them all. She crouched down to wrap her arms around them both, reveling in the joy and feeling of family emanating from them. 

“She’s totally their mom.” Poe stage whispered to his husband from the bottom of the Falcon’s ramp where they’re watching the scene. “Ow! Rose!”

Rey invites them all in, Mira and Caro immediately running off together. Rey can hear them both asking questions a mile a minute and describing everything they can think of. The adults settle in the kitchen, Rey distributing water and pulling out glasses for the Corellian whiskey Poe had brought in. 

“So.” Rey starts, looking at the pilot, he pauses mid-sip, awaiting the end of her words. “Cato Neimoidia?” 

“Okay” Poe starts, ready to defend himself but she barrels on.

“Bespin?”

“It’s where Lando is from and c’mon floating city.”

“And a major black market depot.”

“We stayed away from that.” 

“Hoth?”

“He picked that one, wanted to see snow.” 

“Felucia?”

“The most colorful planet we could think of.” 

“Even with the natives who are notoriously hostile towards outsiders after the Empire?”

“Doesn’t mean it’s not still a colorful planet.”

“Hutt space?”

“To be fair we were barely in it-”

“He was born on Tatooine! A planet that has been controlled by the Hutts for nearly a century!”

“Wait, how did you-” Poe trailed off, looking at Rose with a frown. “We agreed we weren’t going to tell her about that. The kid even promised.” Rose shrugged with an apologetic look on her face.

“Rey,” Finn finally spoke up, looking at her with a soft expression. “I agree that maybe we could have been a bit more thoughtful with where we went but this was your idea. You were the one that wanted him to see the galaxy and you know as well as we do that the galaxy isn’t all safe. But you also have to agree that there were much worse places than where we all went.” She looked away from him, giving a long sigh after a moment. 

“I’m sorry. You’re right. I know you wouldn’t put him or yourselves in danger or in situations you were worried about on purpose.” 

Poe quirked a small smile and clinked his glass against hers “No harm done Rey, we get it. He’s your kid, you’re going to worry about him. We appreciate you trusting us to keep an eye on him. But you really are being a mom.” He teased.

She rolled her eyes with a chuckle but then said “I’m not their mom.” The other three looked at each other in disbelief and then back to her. “I’m not.” She repeated.

“But you are.” Finn said. “At least to Caro you are.” She looked away, eyebrows furrowing slightly.

“Rey, is the only reason you don’t want to be called their mom because you don’t have experience with having a mother?” Rose asked gently. 

Rey’s eyes flashed to hers before she looked away again, a silent confirmation. Rose stood from her chair and embraced Rey tightly from behind. “It doesn’t matter. Whatever you call yourself, you are doing right by them and that’s all that matters.” 

Rey smiled slightly and reached up to take one of Rose’s hands in her own, squeezing it with a wordless ‘thank you’. Poe and Finn were quick to get up and join in the hug, Rey’s smile turning to a soft laugh and a whispered “thank you.” 

“We’re here for you, no matter what you do.” Finn promised, the other two voicing their agreement. 

Eventually Poe pulled away and leaned out the kitchen door “Hey Kid, bring your sister in here and introduce us!” 

Mira’s right on Caro’s heels when they enter the dining area, and already Rey knows that it’s going to be a common occurrence. They’ve known each other in person for an hour or two but were acting like they’d grown up together. Though, she supposed they were growing up together now.

“Mira, this is Poe, Finn and Rose. They’re kind of like our aunt and uncles because they’re basically Rey’s family like we’re her family.” The explanation drew smiles from all the adults, Finn raising an eyebrow in a gesture of ‘told you so’ 

“Finn and Poe are married and all three of them are kind of a big deal with the galaxy and government and stuff. They were the Generals in the Resistance, that means they were in charge, so they’re kind of a little bit in charge now. But Rose does all the work to make it so they can be in charge easily.” 

“Kid!” Poe said with mock-indigence while Rey and Rose burst out laughing. 

“Babe, he’s not wrong.” Finn sighed. 

“Cheers to that General.” Rose smirked, tipping her glass to his. 

“Lady Tico.” He grinned, tapping their cups together. 

Poe frowned but then his expression morphed into the charismatic and kind smile Rey was used to seeing on his face.

“And who are you young lady?” He asked, turning to Mira.

Rey could feel an inkling of shyness from her when faced with the eyes of so many unfamiliar adults but masking the shyness was trust and confidence stemming from Caro’s support in her. 

“I’m Mira.” She said quietly, not quite meeting any of their eyes. 

“Pleasure to meet you Mira.” He said with a wink and a smile, making Mira’s own expression turn up into a shy little smile. 

“Mira’s got the Force like Rey.” Caro said proudly, the girl nodding in agreement. “Rey’s gonna teach her how to use it.” 

“Is she now?” Poe questioned, looking at Rey. All the adults remembered how vehemently Rey denied ever taking on a Jedi apprentice, she’d even refused to talk Finn though more than the very basics, focusing almost entirely on mental shielding. 

“The Force told her to.” Mira spoke up. “And we should trust the Force. Grandma always says that we are one with the Force and that the Force is with us. So we have to trust it.” 

A wave of surprised disbelief rolled through the adults at Mira’s declaration. “Your Grandma sounds pretty wise kiddo.” Finn said, glancing at Rey as though asking for an explanation. 

“It’s a long story.” is all she offers. “But yes, the Force did bring us together and I can’t just not teach her what I know. I suppose it’s part of my responsibility of being the last Jedi. I’m certainly not going to open an academy or anything of the sort, but there’s no harm in teaching Mira.” 

There was also apparently the side effect of the bond reacting to Mira being around but she’d never told any of them about that and wasn’t about to now. Maybe one day when she knew what exactly was happening, but for now that would be something she kept to herself. 

The conversation turns to Mira’s interests and between her and Caro, they learn all about Mira’s interest in the garden and helping Rey in the kitchen. They tell them about how she spends much of her time running through the homestead playing tag with BB-8, who for his part, tells Poe how much he enjoys the game even if he doesn’t quite understand the point. She asks them about what they do, not quite understanding what Caro had meant when he’d tried to explain. 

Of course they simplify it for her, even more so than they had for Caro when he’d asked a similar question on their trip. When dinner time approaches, they all pitch in to make a delicious stew, Mira showing Rose ‘her’ garden while Finn and Poe chop ingredients, Caro helping Rey prepare the base broth. They enjoy it all crowded around the too small dining table, crammed shoulder to shoulder, knees knocking together under the table. But it’s a meal filled with laughter, jokes and storytelling until Mira is yawning and half falling asleep on Caro’s shoulder.

Finn, Poe and Rose decide to take that as their cue to leave and quickly move to do dishes despite Rey’s insistence that their help is unneeded. “It's fine Rey, go get Mira in bed. We’ll take care of it. Caro can show us where everything goes.” 

Rey sighed but nodded her agreement to Rose, lifting Mira into her arms. The girl stirred but settled quickly in Rey’s arms. Their normal routine dictated meditation and then combing of Mira’s hair but tonight had been a special night, so Rey laid her down in her bed without bothering to wake her to change into her sleep clothes. She covered her with a blanket and sat on the side of her bed, brushing her fingers through Mira’s hair until she felt her Force presence settle into full sleep. “Goodnight little one.” 

The kitchen is spotless when she returns and they all move to the door without much discussion. It’s been a long day for all of them and Rey knows that her friends have put much of their work on hold these last few weeks for Caro. 

“Keep in touch.” She requested, hugging Finn while Caro hugged Rose.

“We will.” He promised. 

“I’m glad you had a good time.” She tells Poe when it’s his turn for a hug.

“He’s a good kid, he’s got a good future ahead of him.” Poe smiles.

“Thank you for making this happen.” She whispered to Rose. “It never would have without your help.” 

“We’re always here for you Rey. Don’t forget that.” 

They boarded the ship they'd first taken to Tatooine as the suns are starting to touch the horizon, both their ship and the Falcon bathed in the red-orange glow. She wrapped her arm around Caro’s shoulder as the ramp lifted and the sublights started to glow. 

“I’m glad you’re home.” She told him. 

“I’m glad too, _mom._ ” She heard the addition in his head and decided that this time, she’d let it happen. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hair combing routine inspired by my own ritual I have with my niece. She's about Mira's age and loves that I comb her hair when it's bedtime.


	12. The Connection

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, hopefully this chapter being twice the usual length makes up for it.

Rey’s thoughts are turbulent when she’s finally alone with them. Caro had gone to his room and actually had gone to sleep soon after, exhausted from his trip and ready to be back in his bed. Mira was still sound asleep in her own room and BB-8 was on his charging dock for the night. It had been nearly two weeks since she’d made the breakthrough with the bond and despite her continued pulling at it, there still seemed to be no end in sight. It was disheartening after she’d let her hopes start to grow. Perhaps there was no end? The bond could stretch on endlessly through the Force and she would never see Ben again. What was the point in continuing to try?

_“Hope is like the sun.”_ Leia’s voice chimed in, a memory rather than a vision from the Force. _“If you only believe in it when you can see it…”_

“You’ll never make it through the night.” Rey whispered to herself with a deep sigh. She had to keep trying.

Silently, she exited the homestead and settled into her meditation spot. She’d been using it less frequently lately, not wanting to have Mira outside after dark when they meditated together. As such, some of her stones were out of place while others were almost completely buried in the sand. Using the Force to rearrange them was like flexing a muscle out of practice, she’d not used the Force in the more noticeable ways around Mira and in fact hadn’t really since Caro had left on his trip. Soon enough though it would come up and Mira might ask to be taught to do things like Caro had described to her. He was most familiar with the Force as a tool to help, most often Rey used it to lift things too heavy for them to lift on their own or to summon tools from across the garage into her hand, she rarely used it for frivolous tasks. But a child with the same abilities almost guaranteed that it would be used for fun rather than actual help. Not that it was necessarily a bad thing, but it might bring a certain element of chaos to their household. Rey chuckled at the thought of what Caro and Mira might get up to were she able to telekinetically move things around. 

The sand had cooled now that the suns had set completely, but Rey still settled down on it without a care for the chill in the air. As she shifted her awareness into the Force, Caro’s dim glow now joined Mira’s brighter presence, his simply the glow of a sentient life form instead of one who could feel the Force. Rey let herself bask in the feel of them in her mind, just breathing in time with the steady pulsating glow of them both. Once she felt centered, she opened her mind's eye to face the bond.

The rope hung before her, swaying back and forth gently as though in a breeze despite the lack of one, as though it stretched over a great chasm. On the other side of that chasm was Ben, waiting at the end of the rope. Her thoughts flashed back to Starkiller base, when a literal chasm had separated them. She’d not given all too much thought on when the bond had formed. In theory it had always been there waiting, dormant as her connection to the Force had been. Meeting Ben, Kylo at that point, had been part of the catalyst to awakening her powers and perhaps the bond as well. She knew that Kylo’s interrogation and attempted theft of knowledge from her mind had played a large part in her coming into her abilities. She’d been as surprised as he was when she’d managed to get into his mind after forcing him from hers. Maybe that was what had created the bond? Their aggressive push into each others heads? Snoke had claimed he’d created it but she hadn’t believed that for a moment and from what she gathered, neither had Kylo. He’d been the first to refer to it by what they actually were, a Dyad. Two that were one. A shared soul. 

She glared at the rope like it was mocking her. The other part of her soul was tied to the other end but no matter how hard or long she pulled, nothing would come of it. “Trust the Force.” She muttered to herself, standing from her meditative position and grabbing the rope. Her cursory pull of the bond gave no sign of effectiveness so Rey sighed and began to walk. 

Lately, she had been substituting sleep with her meditation. It wasn’t ideal, her mind felt rested each morning but her body did not. Dark smudges were forming under her eyes and she found herself yawning more than usual. But she doubted that she’d be able to sleep soundly even if she tried. Ben had encompassed her thoughts in every free moment. He’d responded to her manipulation of their bond and was presumably doing everything he could from his end to reach her in the same way she on hers. Eventually they had to meet in the middle, didn't they?

But what would even happen when they did? Ben had died. She’d watched his body fade before her eyes. He’d given all of himself to save her. Was this simply all going to lead to him appearing to her as a ghost? Would he just join the roster of Force-users that sometimes appeared to her? She paused in her steps at the realization. He was dead. No one could come back from the dead. Truly the best she could hope for was to see him as a ghost. They’d had far too little time together and what time they’d had was spent fighting. She wanted to have time with him beyond that. She wanted to be with Ben Solo and know him as himself. She’d kissed him on instinct on Exegol, his smile confirming that he wanted it too despite already having a plan of his own. They could have found a solution, she was sure of it. Something could have been done to save them both. But of course what could she have really expected from the son of a Skywalker and a Solo if not dramatics? 

“Ben Solo, you’d better be waiting on the other side of this. I have a bone to pick with you.” She murmured to herself with stubborn determination as she started walking again. No, she wasn’t going to give up trying to reach him. She wouldn’t let him have the last word. 

Rey walked along the bond without caring how long had passed. It was only when she noticed a flicker in the corner of her vision that she realized it had been much of the night, Caro’s dim glow shimmering slightly as he woke. It must be nearing dawn, the time they normally woke to start the day's work. On their trip they must’ve adjusted the day cycles to match what Caro was used to so that it would be easier for him. She looked back at the pair of glowing blobs, Mira was still sleeping soundly, she usually slept until after sunrise if Rey didn’t wake her. She may as well end her meditation and change clothes, there was a lot for them to do now that she had Caro back to help her. 

She turned to look back at the bond one more time but instead of darkness at the other end there appeared to be a pinprick of light. She looked back to make sure both Mira and Caro’s glow hadn’t changed and they hadn’t, both sitting near her as they always did. What was stranger was that the pinprick was pale blue rather than the soft gold of the children. Rey took hold of the bond and pulled lightly, nearly stumbling forward when something yanked on it in reply. 

“Ben?” She called out.

Another sharp tug and a whisper of _“Rey?”_

“Ben!” She took off running down the length eyes wide and hopes rejuvenated. At the edge of her awareness she saw Caro’s light growing ever brighter as he woke up. She was running out of time. 

_“Rey?”_

“I can hear you!” With each step she took the blue light drew closer, heart racing. This was it! The moment she’d been hoping for ever since she’d realized the bond hadn’t snapped. 

_“Rey!”_ She was sprinting now, racing to the light and to Ben. Larger and larger it grew until suddenly she saw it. The light was more than just a spot or a glow, it was a portal of some kind, a nebulous doorway shape that the bond disappeared into. 

“Ben?” She called out as she slid to a stop in front of the portal. In all her thoughts and wonderings, she’d never imagined being faced with this but there was a very real chance that whatever was through that door was where those who ‘became one with the Force’ went after their deaths. 

_“Rey”_ His voice answered from within, her name spoken like a prayer. She blinked and her eyes stung with unshed tears. All this, only to reach the end of where she could not go. She fell to her knees and closed her eyes, the tears spilling over down her cheeks.

_“Rey?”_ he asked cautiously. 

“I’m here Ben. I’m here. But I, I can’t go any farther.” 

_“The doorway.”_ He said, voice falling into disappointment and realization. 

“Yes.” She confirmed, above her the bond trembled. Silence stretched between them for a long time, the same silence they’d shared on Exegol after he’d given everything to her, she’d said his name then and nothing more because there had been so much she’d wanted to say that she couldn’t even find the place to start. 

“I wanted to be with you. I wanted us to have a chance. I wanted _you_ to have a chance. You took that away from us both.” 

_“It was the only way. Your life was worth far more than mine.”_ He countered calmly against the storm rising in her. 

“You’re wrong!” She snapped, opening her eyes to look at the portal. “You deserved the chance to live. I knew I wouldn’t be leaving that place the moment I set foot in it. I was going to destroy him so that you had a chance to live the life you were owed. You came back to the light. You _deserved_ the chance the live.” 

_“Rey, there was no life I was willing to live without you in it.”_ The statement knocked her silent, every argument she was ready to present dying on her tongue. 

“Why? I’m nobody. Nothing. The grandchild of a monster thrown aside to keep him from finding me.”

“ _You were never nothing Rey. Not to me. Never to me.”_

She had nothing to say to him in reply that he didn’t already know. 

_“How long has it been?”_ He asked. 

“Nearly two years.” 

_“And the galaxy?”_

“Healing. Or so I’m told.” 

_“You’re not helping?”_

“I left the Resistance after-” she trailed off “Needed time alone.” 

_“Are you still alone?”_

A quick glance to either side of her showed that Caro was awake fully now, likely quite confused about where she was. Mira remained asleep but was starting to wake slowly, her sparkle growing. 

“No. I’m not.” She told him, smiling softly. 

“ _Good. You don’t deserve to be alone.”_

“Do you think I can come see you again? Come back to this spot?”

_“I don’t know. The Force, it behaves in strange ways here. I won’t give up though. Not if it means we get to talk even for a short time. Though time moves irregularly here. It feels like it’s been far more than two years to me.”_

“Rey?” A voice that wasn’t Ben’s echoed around the Force plain. It took her a moment to realize that it was Caro.

“ _Who is he?”_ Ben asked, not unkindly, more curious than anything else. 

“A boy I’ve taken in,” she paused, hesitating, considering calling him more.

_“I look forward to meeting him.”_ Ben spoke up, perhaps sensing the trepidation in her thoughts and wanting to save her the stress. _“But now, I think it’s time you go to him. We’ll speak again.”_

“I’ll come back tomorrow if I can. I will come back. I’ll find a way to come back.” She promised.

_“I know you will sweetheart.”_ She didn’t call attention to the term of endearment, not wanting to scare him away from using it again if he realized he’d picked it up from his father. _“I’ll speak with you tomorrow.”_ He promised. The bond stiffened from the way it had been warping and fluctuating as they spoke, the glowing portal fading until only the faint outline of it remained. 

Ben was gone. Her heart clenched at the thought but she forced herself to stand. She had to trust that they’d speak again. Trust in the Force that they’d be able to find each other once more. They’d done it once. They could do it again.

~

When Caro woke up in his own bed for the first time in weeks he gave the most contented sigh he could manage while he stretched out. His bed wasn’t huge but it was bigger than the bunk he’d slept in on the Falcon for the last several weeks. That was something that he hadn’t expected about space travel, the beds were not all that comfortable. Finn and Poe, who was he kidding, it was Finn’s doing, had the foresight to keep the Falcon’s day cycle in line with Tatooine to minimize Caro experiencing time lag. It meant that occasionally they felt it on some planets, but the positive was that his body was used to waking up at his normal time before the trip. Which meant it was just before dawn on Tatooine. 

He yawned and stretched again, surely Rey wouldn’t be mad if he laid around for a little bit before going to start his chores. He wondered how Mira fit into their morning routine? She’d told him that she didn’t really help Rey with mechanics since she didn’t know anything, that job had been reserved for him when he returned, but in turn meant that Mira helped make breakfast in the morning. She was probably still fast asleep in the storage room turned bedroom next door.

It was a little bit weird to think about going back to his daily routine after he’d spent the last three weeks in space. He’d learned and seen so much outside of what he’d known. The galaxy was bigger than the homestead, bigger than Mos Eisley, bigger than Tatooine. Obviously he’d known that, but now that he’d seen it, it only made him want to see more. Poe had shown him the basics of flying the Falcon, which was much different than the speeder Rey had been teaching him about. Starships in general were so much more complicated than speeders and the Falcon was full of so many modifications it was amazing anyone could fly it at all. The realization had tamped down his ambition to fly somewhat, but more in the way that he understood why Rey was making him wait to learn how to fly Starships. One step at a time made sense, with the Falcon as an end goal.

With a final groan and stretch, Caro sat up in bed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He got dressed and looked around for the small toolkit he’d been working on compiling, finding it half-buried under some scrap he’d been tinkering with before the trip. His room really was kind of a mess, he’d been meaning to clean it for a few days before they sprung the trip on him so it had remained dirty while he was gone. Rey didn’t often bug him to clean his room, it was his space, if he wanted to live in a messy space he could, she just asked that he contain the mess to his room. He needed to set a good example for Mira though, he was a big brother now. With a nod to himself, he decided that he’d clean his room after breakfast. 

Normally Rey waited for him in the kitchen or in the courtyard but she was neither of those places this morning. She didn’t usually oversleep, in fact she was quite a light sleeper and so ingrained with habit that he’d be surprised if she did sleep too long. Still, he knocked lightly on the door to her bedroom and when there was no response, opened it to look inside. Not only was she not there, but her bed was already made. Either she never slept in it at all, or she was already awake. He checked the garage and the storage rooms just in case, but after he didn’t find her in either, decided to go check outside. She didn’t like him going outside on his own, especially in the dark, but it was the only place left that she could be. 

As he climbed the steps to the door, his eyes went to the shelf where she kept her toolkit and her lightsaber. She’d told him it was a weapon, a Jedi weapon, a sword made of pure light and energy able to cut through almost anything. She’d shown him, reluctantly and from a distance away, the shimmering golden blades that came from either end of the metal cylinder. He’d been in awe of them, the whole thing unlike anything he’d ever seen or dreamed of. He’d begged her to demonstrate and show him what it could do but that had been where she drew the line. 

_“It’s a weapon Caro, a dangerous one, far more dangerous than a blaster. Promise me that you’ll never touch it.” “I promise.”_

She always took it with her when she left the homestead, and the fact that it wasn’t on the shelf now told him that she had to have left. Her toolkit was still there however, which was odd if she had gone to work on the vaporators without him. Slinging the strap of the tool bag over his shoulder he tapped the button to open the door. 

The sky was barely beginning to lighten, the deep black of space fading to grey and navy blue with pinpricks of thousands of stars and planets that he’d grown used to seeing. It was easier than he expected to find Rey, she was hovering a few feet off the ground nearby, legs crossed and body still as chunks of sandstone orbited around her. He knew she was meditating but he also knew that she normally did that before bed. Why now? Unless. He could see her lightsaber hilt on her belt, the shiny silver surface had dew drops condensing on it the same way the vaporators did in the morning. She’d been out here all night.

“Rey?” He called softly, unsure if she could hear him or not. He’d seen her meditate and admittedly didn’t know a ton about it, but surely it couldn’t be good that she’d been here all night? “Rey?” he spoke a little bit louder. The stones wavered and Caro took a step back. “Rey?” he questioned, maybe she could hear him? A moment later she blinked her eyes open and gracefully came back to the ground, the stones settling to the sand in a pair of interlocking circles around her.

“Caro.” 

He leaped forward to hug her, he’d been starting to worry.

“I’m sorry I scared you. I didn’t mean to.” She apologized as she wrapped her arms around him.

“Were you out here all night?” 

She looked around for a moment before speaking up “I suppose I was. I’m sorry I worried you.” 

“What happened? Were you stuck?” 

“No, nothing like that. Something, something I’ve been working on, I made a breakthrough.” She explained, clearly not the full truth but in all likelihood he wouldn’t understand the full explanation anyway. She was somewhat out of breath and the way she spoke made it seem like she was far away. 

“Is it a good thing?” 

“I think so, I believe so. I hope so.” She blinked and took a deep breath. “Caro, a wise woman once told me that “Hope is like the sun. If you only believe in it when you can see it, You’ll never make it through the night.” Never forget that we always have hope. If nothing else, we have hope.” She squeezed him tightly for a moment before unwinding her arms. 

“Now then, let me show you what the Jawas did while you were gone.”

~

Mira loved her bed. She loved a lot of things about her new life; she loved BB-8 because he was funny, she loved Caro because she’d never imagined having a brother before, she loved her garden, she loved looking at the stars, she loved Rey because part of her had always loved Rey, but right now, the things she loved most was her bed. She’d never had a bed of her own before, at the Orphanage she’d shared a room with 3 other kids and a bed with one of them, well until they’d made her leave, then she didn’t have a bed at all. Sometimes Grandma told her to stay and sleep with her, but Grandma didn’t have a proper bed either, she had a bunch of pillows on the floor. It was comfy but it wasn’t a bed. 

Her tummy used to growl all the time before she found Rey, now it only did sometimes. Like in the morning when she first woke up. It meant she was hungry for breakfast. She liked breakfast a lot. Breakfast was where she helped Rey the most. In the morning Rey had to go check on all the vaporators and it took her awhile sometimes. She said that it went faster when she had Caro to help, he knew about vaporators too, but today was the first morning Caro was here. She liked Caro a lot. He was funny and nice and wanted to show her all sorts of things. Yesterday, when the grownups were talking he showed her his bedroom and some of the things he had. He had a really cool holobook that Rey gave him for his name day that had all sorts of cool pictures about planets. He showed her some of the ones he’d seen on his trip and told her all about the adventures they went on. She wanted to go on an adventure someday too. 

Her tummy growled again so she decided to get out of bed. It was her job to get breakfast ready so that when Rey came back she could cook it. BB-8 was good at helping her, she didn’t understand him really but he was still good at helping. When she opened her door, BB was waiting for her, beeping what she figured must mean ‘good morning’. 

“Good morning BB.” She smiled, patting his dome the way he liked. Together they went to the kitchen and started to get out the cups and bowls and pans that Rey would need to cook. Rey liked to drink tea in the morning, so Mira carefully grabbed the glass jar that held the tea and brought it over to the kettle. She couldn’t cook without help but she knew how to make tea. As she filled the kettle with water she wondered if Caro liked tea? She knew she didn’t, it just tasted like funny water, but maybe Caro did? Should she make tea for him just in case? 

“BB, does Caro drink tea in the morning?” She asked, the droid trilled a negative response, twisting its dome in a rough copy of shaking a head. That sorted, she put the kettle on its stand and tapped the button to heat the water. Next came her favorite part, looking through her garden to see if there was anything ready to eat. There wasn’t always something, but lately the lamtas were growing large enough to harvest so they’d been eating those fried at breakfast time. While the kettle heated Mira went to the garden, grabbing her tiny shovel from the hook where it hung near the door to the courtyard. This early in the morning, much of the courtyard was shaded, the suns light only beginning to creep over the edge. Like she’d hoped there were two lamtas that were large enough to harvest so she set to work digging them out, careful not to damage the roots and stems of the rest. 

Mira patted the soil back into place, deciding she was happy with the way the soil felt she didn’t bother with the garden further. On her way back to the kitchen she heard the outer door open and then the chatter of Caro’s voice. She took a deep breath to center her mind, then reached out with the Force. Rey was easy to find, she was really bright and her Force presence always seemed to call out to Mira. Caro was very dim, she could barely feel him at all. Rey had said that Caro didn’t have the Force and that was why he felt so different. Mira felt kind of bad for him but didn’t say so, she didn’t want to make him feel left out anymore than he already might. 

“Good morning!” She smiled when they came down the stairs. 

“Good morning Mira.” Rey replied with a smile. She had grease on her cheek and sand in her hair.  
  
“Ooh did you get those from the garden?” Caro asked. He looked just as windswept as Rey, maybe there had been a little sandstorm when they were out on the flats? 

She nodded “We can have them with breakfast!” 

“Sounds like a plan, why don’t you go put those in the kitchen while we go get cleaned up?” They scattered to their respective tasks, Caro practically running down the hallway in his haste to get clean so he could eat. 

The kettle was boiling when Mira went back into the kitchen. She put the lamtas on the counter then set to work spooning out the proper amount of tea into a little strainer. Then ever so carefully poured the water into a mug followed by the strainer. Rey took fast showers so Mira knew it would be ready by the time Rey joined her in the kitchen. She didn’t know how long Caro would be so she just decided to wait till he came in to ask what he wanted. In the meantime, she scrubbed the dirt off the lamtas and rinsed them clean. 

“Thank you for getting breakfast prepped.” Rey said as she came into the kitchen, tying a band around the end of her braided hair. “And for making tea.” She smiled, picking up her mug and sipping it, grimacing at the too hot temperature. “Let’s get to work shall we?” 

They began to make breakfast, Rey doing the chopping and the cooking but Mira handing her things as she needed them. They fried up sausages (Caro’s favorite), spread thick jogan fruit jam on toast (Mira’s favorite) and cooked the diced lamta with a blend of spices from the market, Rey preferring anything flavorful. Mira chattered to Rey about the dreams she had and her plans for the day as she turned around to set the table, pausing in confusion. 

“Rey?”

“Yes Mira?” 

“Who's that?”

Rey turned, her eyes widening, the mug fell from her hand to shatter on the floor. Because in the doorway of the kitchen stood the blue-tinged, semi-transparent form of Ben Solo. 


	13. The Bond

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter brought to you by Samuel Kim's Reylo Love Theme 
> 
> (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JGe5GAhOf4)

Mira wasn’t sure of what to make of Rey’s reaction. Nor did she know who Ben was or why Rey looked so surprised to see him. “Who’s Ben?” She asked, looking at the blue man standing in the doorway. He smiled a little at her but it was Rey who turned back to look at her.

“You can see him?” Again, Mira didn’t really know why Rey looked so shocked. He was standing right there, of course she could see him. She told Rey as much and while Rey still looked shocked, the man laughed, well she thought he was laughing, he looked like it but she couldn’t hear him. That was weird. She watched his mouth move when his laughter died down but still didn’t hear a thing. Rey rolled her eyes at the man, apparently _she_ could hear him. Before Mira could ask, Rey crouched down a little to be more level with her, she had the serious expression on. This was something important.

“This is my, friend, Ben Solo.” She glanced back at him but then looked back to Mira. “I’m surprised you can see him because, well, he’s not really there. This is something the Force is doing.”

“But I have the Force, so I can see him?”

“I suppose so. Normally, when people appear like this, only people very close to them can see them.” 

“It smells really good in here!” Caro called as he entered the kitchen, walking right through Mr. Solo. Mira looked at the man with wide eyes and then at Rey, who barely reacted as she stood up. 

“What?” Caro asked, seeing Mira’s expression. 

“Nothing Caro, don’t worry about it.” Rey said _“We’ll talk about it later.”_ Mira heard Rey say in her mind. She wasn’t quite used to that yet but she was getting better about it. Mr. Solo entered the kitchen and stepped off to the side, his mouth moving again. Rey didn’t react, putting dishes filled with food on the table. 

Mira said very little during breakfast, struggling to keep her eyes focused on the people at the table and not the giant of a man standing in the corner. It was a little scary really, Mira had never believed in ghosts but from the stories she’d heard about them Mr. Solo seemed like a ghost. But Rey had said it was the Force that had brought him here and ghosts didn’t have the Force did they? 

“Mira?” She turned back to the table, Caro was looking at her expectantly. “Did you hear me?” 

She shook her head and poked at her food guiltily. She felt a kind of worried feeling and realized it was coming from Caro, who was looking at her with his eyebrows slightly furrowed. “I asked if you wanted to play starships with me today after chores.” 

“I’ve never played starships.” She admitted. The worried feeling disappeared in an instant and excitement replaced it. 

“It’s really fun! I’ll show you! I have all different kinds, Rey and me made some of them from scrap and others we got at the market or from the Darklighter’s-” he started to ramble on and Mira’s attention drifted back towards Mr. Solo. He was listening to Caro as well, a small smile on his face, he was leaning against the wall now in a far more casual position than before. He must have realized she was looking at him and turned his attention to her. He lifted a hand to wave a greeting but before she could respond Rey coughed, getting both their attention. Mira couldn’t help but feel like she’d missed something.

When they finished eating, both she and Caro stood to do dishes but Rey said “Why don’t you go play for a bit, I’ll take care of dishes.” Caro looked surprised but didn’t argue, running off towards his room, calling for Mira to follow. She hesitated in the kitchen and looked back at Rey and at Mr. Solo. “I’ll explain everything later. I promise.” Rey assured her. 

“Ok.” 

“Now, go find Caro.” 

As Mira left she heard Rey say “You have a lot of explaining to do Ben Solo.” 

~

“You have a lot of explaining to do Ben Solo.” Rey had been shocked when he’d appeared without warning. It had taken her over a year to make contact with him and then only a few hours later he manages to appear as a Force Ghost in her kitchen without warning? She was also surprised at the feeling of stinging tears welling up in her eyes now that they were alone.

_“Honestly, I’m not certain.”_ He looked down at his hands, turning and holding them up as if examining them. _“You were there, then we broke the connection off and you weren’t. Then the doorway, the portal, whatever you want to call it reappeared and I assumed you’d managed to find a way for us to communicate again. When you didn’t answer I-”_ he hesitated and looked away from her as though he was embarrassed. _“got concerned. So I tried touching it and then I was here.”_

Was that it? Had it been that simple all along? That doorway they had found was the connection to each other she’d been searching for since he’d disappeared. She blinked and then there was a trickle of moisture on her cheek.

_“When I was told about Force Ghosts as a child, I never imagined,”_ he was talking to himself more than her, still experimenting, too distracted to notice that she was crying. At least at first, he fell silent in an instant when he caught sight of her through his hand. 

“I thought I’d never see you again.” She sniffed, wiping at her eyes. He crossed the kitchen in barely a handful of strides and moved to embrace her, pulling back in shock when his hands passed right through her. The action caused a sob to bubble up from her throat, in relief that he was here or anguish that he wasn’t _really_ here, she wasn’t quite sure. 

“It’s like there’s a hole, a missing piece of me and no one understands.” She held her face in her hands, sobbing in earnest, wishing she could feel his arms around her. 

_“Rey, sweetheart, I’m sorry.”_

“They all think I killed you. I was congratulated for ‘finally defeating Kylo Ren’ and I couldn’t say anything because none of them would understand. The worst part is, I did kill you. It’s my fault that you’re-” She trailed off, gesturing at him. “You didn’t deserve this, you”

_“Rey,”_ he interrupted her, _“we’ve already had this conversation. You say that no one understands but I do. You made your choice when you went to face him alone but I made my own choice when I followed you. I thought you realized that when we stood against him, together. The Skywalkers have spent enough time causing problems in the galaxy. It’s time for a new story. You’re the hero of that story, not me. I had no other option but to save you. You’re tired of people thinking they understand you, well I’m tired of people telling me what I am or what I should be. All my life I’ve done what other people think I should. Sidious, Snoke, Skywalker, my parents, everyone. Choosing to save you was what I wanted to do. And it was the easiest choice I ever made.”_

Her sobs had turned to sniffles again, her eyes red from rubbing tears away. “I’ve been so selfish.” She muttered into her hands, falling back into one of the chairs around the table. Ben took another step closer, falling to his knees before her. Instinctually he moved to grab her hands, frowning when he phased through her again. Instead he said her name again to get her attention.

She hesitated a moment but then moved her hands away from her face. Both her cheeks were salt-stained and her eyes puffy. _“You are not selfish.”_ She opened her mouth to argue but he kept going _“How could you possibly be selfish? You are_ selfless _. You spent years waiting on Jakku for your parents despite being miserable. You left everything you knew to help a droid and a man you’d just met. You risked your life in a fight against someone far stronger than you to protect your friend. You believed in me despite everyone telling you not to. You could have left me to die on Kef Bir, no one would have faulted you, least of all me, but you didn’t. You sacrificed yourself to stop Sidious. And then, when you finally had the chance to stop and live your life for yourself, you adopted not one but two children who needed a family. Rey, I am in awe of you and how truly good you are. And it’s because you are so good that the Force is giving us a second chance. It may not be what either of us wanted, believe me sweetheart if I could actually be here with you, I would, but it’s what we have. So I intend to make the most of it.”_

Rey wiped at her eyes with her wrist, nodding as she removed the last of her tears. “You’re right.” She took a deep breath and nodded again, repeating “You’re right.” more confidently. He was right, she should be jumping for joy, ecstatic that she was being given this chance, that they could talk and at least somewhat be together. The hole in her chest that had been there since Exegol suddenly felt so much smaller, not gone completely, she doubted it would ever be gone completely, but infinitely smaller. 

A small smile quirked on his lips and she returned it, grateful to see him smile again. 

He stood and sat down in the chair opposite her, phasing right through the table but not the chair itself. _“Tell me about the girl.”_ He requested, tone soft and curious. 

“Mira, her name is Mira.” She smiled gently. “She’s Force sensitive. I found her in the streets of Mos Espa nearly two weeks ago. She said that she’s been having dreams of me as long as she can remember, that something was leading her to me. She never knew her family.”

_“So you became her family.”_ He added, to which Rey nodded. _“She can see me.”_

“I know, and she’s very confused by that. She barely knows anything of the Force and what it’s capable of so the idea of ghosts is understandably somewhat concerning. I have no idea why she can see you. Every Force Ghost I ever saw was someone connected to me, Luke, Leia, you. I’ve felt the other Skywalkers but never seen them. It’s odd that she could see you considering she had no idea who you were.” 

He looked thoughtful, eyebrows knitting together and a crease appearing on his forehead between them. _“Skywalker told me very little of Force ghosts when I was young and what research I have done on my own was not very enlightening. It could be as simple as the fact that she is tied to you at least in some way. If the Force has been showing her visions of you for her entire life, why wouldn’t she be able to see me or any of the others you do?”_

“I suppose so.” Rey shrugged. “Who knows? I’ll talk to her more about it tonight.”

_“And the boy?”_

“Caro, I met him over a year ago. He was living on the streets in Mos Eisley, picking pockets and stealing food to get by. The Orphanage kicked him out for being too old,”

_“Too old? He can’t be more than 10?”_

“We’re not sure, neither is he. My guess is that he’s 10 and Mira is 7. Officially he’s my mechanics apprentice. Declaring him as such gives me parental rights should anything happen, not that he has any family left that he knows of. His mother was killed several years ago. He was old enough to remember her. We have a different relationship than Mira and I have because of that. She views me as a mother figure, to him I’m a guardian. It’s better that way. I have no right to be a mother to either of them, but I’m not going to tamp down Mira’s dreams.” 

_“You’d make a good mother._ ” he said casually, she gave him a disbelieving look in response. 

“Why do people keep saying that? How could I possibly be a good mother?”

_“Because you didn’t have one?”_ He questioned.

“Yes, exactly!”

_“Rey,”_ he took a deep breath _“despite what you might think of them as people, Leia Organa and Han Solo were not good parents. With the exception of some nannies and 3PO, I almost entirely raised myself. I don’t think that having parents, whether they were good or bad, is any qualification on how good a parent you would be. I watched you interact with those kids for less than an hour and I can see that they are far better here than if you had left them on the streets. It doesn’t matter if you are a mother figure to them or not, you are the guardian they deserve to have. So be that guardian. Be the mother Mira always wanted, be the figure Caro needs. Be their guiding light like you have been and are for so many, me included.”_

It was all anyone had said to her so far when her worries had come to light. She was worthy of being a mother to them but in the end such a title didn’t matter. She’d come to the conclusion herself when she’d first taken Caro in. The important thing was to do the right thing for them, not whatever they called her or whatever she referred to herself as in relation to them. Just doing the right thing for their health and happiness. 

“When did you get so wise?” She asked, smiling at him across the table. 

_“I’ve had a lot of time to think. And a lot to think about. I think it’s done me a galaxy of good so far.”_

“I look forward to hearing more of your thoughts.” 

He gave her a cocky smile, and she wondered how often she might’ve seen it if their path to this point had been different. _“Don’t worry sweetheart, I’m not going anywhere for a very long time. Now that I’m here, you’re not getting rid of me that easily.”_


	14. The Game

“Why were you acting so weird at breakfast?” Caro asked Mira without preamble when she came into his bedroom. He’d already pulled out a selection of his model starships and was in the process of laying them out on his bed. Mira frowned, uncertain of how much she was allowed to tell Caro. Obviously he knew about the Force, he’d been the one to bring it up in their first conversation, but how much did he actually know? 

“It was a Force thing I think.” She settled on, climbing up onto his bed and sitting next to him. “Rey’s gonna tell me more later.” 

He shrugged, accepting the answer for what it was. “I wish I had the Force, it seems really cool. I’ve been trying to get Rey to show me more stuff for ages but she doesn’t want to. Has she shown you how to do anything cool yet? Can you read minds or float things?” 

Mira shook her head “Mostly we’ve been doing medtation.” 

“Meditation? That thing where you sit and do nothing?” He scrunched his face up in displeasure at the idea. 

“Yeah, it’s supposed to help calm your head but I don’t know if I do it right.” 

“Seems boring.” 

“It kinda is but I don’t want to tell Rey. I don’t want her to get mad.”  _ She might make me leave _ .

“Oh she won’t get mad. She doesn’t really get mad. I’ve only seen her sort of mad once and it was because Finn and Poe got engaged and didn’t tell her immediately, but I think she was joking. She’s not gonna make us leave if that’s what you’re worried about.” She looked at him in surprise, had he somehow managed to read her mind?

“I was worried too when I first came here. But she’s really not, no matter what. So if you don’t like to meditate or whatever, just tell her.” He picked up one of the toys and started flying it around. “What if you tried to levitate one of the ships?”

“I don’t know how.” She admitted, carefully picking one up, wary of the delicate parts. 

“I’ve seen Rey lift stuff, she even lifted me this one time. I think you just kind of-” He reached out with one hand, fingers splayed wide “And maybe imagine its floating? It can’t be that hard right?” 

Mira shrugged and set the toy down. She copied Caro’s gesture, hand outstretched as far as she could manage. She looked at the toy and tried to focus on it and making it fly like a real starship but there was so much other stuff on her mind. There was an actual ghost in the kitchen with Rey right now. 

“You can do it!” Caro encouraged but his talking only made something else to distract her. She scrunched up her face and her fingers started to feel really tight, like someone was pulling on them. It was sort of starting to hurt her hand and her head but she didn’t stop. She wanted to do it. She wanted to impress Caro and show him what she could do, he’d like her that much better if she could do the cool Force things Rey didn’t like show off. Eventually it became too much and she let out a huge breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding, letting her hand drop.

“I don’t know if I can do it.” She frowned, looking down at her hands and then at the ship she’d been trying to lift. 

“Well how do you think you do it?” He asked, a thoughtful expression on his face. “I bet it has something to do with really focusing on nothing else. Were you thinking about other stuff?” 

She nodded but didn’t elaborate. 

“Were you thinking about the Force thing that happened at breakfast?” 

She nodded again. 

“Did you know what it was?” 

“Sort of.”

“Did Rey tell you not to tell me?” 

She shook her head. Rey hadn’t explicitly said not to tell him but she’d made it seem like Caro didn’t need to know. She really wanted to tell Caro though. She didn’t want to keep secrets from him or make him feel left out even if he didn’t have the Force. 

“Well either way, she’s worrying about it right now so you don’t have to. It’s kinda hard to learn to not worry about everything. It took me a while to learn to let grown ups worry about some things but sometimes you just gotta let them worry about it. So you can let Rey worry about the Force thing and that way you can focus on making the toys fly!” 

“But-” 

“Don’t worry about it, really. And she’ll explain it to both of us when she needs to. She doesn’t like keeping secrets for no reason. If she’s not telling you or doesn’t want you to tell me, it’s for a real reason. It’s okay. We don’t have to think about it right now. And if you don’t want to try floating things, we can just play starships, that’s okay too.” 

Mira still felt guilty but softly said “I think I just want to play starships.” 

Caro’s mood changed in an instant, the serious face gone and replaced with excitement. “Okay let me tell you all about them and then you can pick which one you want to be. I have all kinds of ships, this one is a model of a…”

They played starships for a while, flying them around the room and making shooting and explosion noises. They had a battle with a First Order Star Destroyer (which they won, resoundingly), after Caro explained to her what it was since he’d learned from Poe. He’d taken a starring role in their game, Caro flying a model of Poe’s personal X-Wing that he and Rey had made, while Mira was using a ship that Caro had said was a bad guy ship, though Mira thought they might want to be good guys this time. 

“Boom! Their shields are down! All fighters converge on my position!” Caro shouted, leaping from his bed to the floor. They both scrambled to hold as many ships as they could and loosely align them behind Black One. Mira had one in each hand, scared of damaging Caro’s toys, while he managed to hold three, though two of them were at a rather odd angle that surely wouldn’t work if this were a real military maneuver. There were still quite a few sitting around the room, scattered on the bed and the floor. 

“We need more help!” She shouted, as engaged in their game as Caro was. She shifted her hold to balance a toy between her arm and her stomach, tongue poked out in concentration. Carefully she leaned down to grab another from the floor when suddenly, it jumped into her open hand. 

She gasped in surprise and looked to Caro to see if he’d seen what happened. His eyes were wide and mouth open in shock. “Did you just…?” He quickly put his toys down and took the one balanced on her arm. “Try and do it again, the same way.” 

Mira shifted the toy from her hand to her arm but this time, instead of leaning down she reached out towards one of the toys on the bed, acting like she was going to pick it up despite it being across the room. The toy starship flew across the room in a flash, so quickly she let out a yelp of surprise when it hit her hand. 

“You did it!” he cheered, jumping up and down in excitement. 

“I used the Force!” She agreed, astonished by what she’d managed to do. The guilt and failure she’d felt earlier was melting away, replaced by confidence. She’d actually used the Force, it wasn’t just voices in her head or weird feelings, but actual visible things she could do. 

“I bet I can make them float.” She told him, looking at the toys on the floor, suddenly confident that she could do anything. 

“All of them?” 

“Dunno, maybe?” She put the toys in her arms down and bit her lip, scrunching up her face and focusing on a TIE fighter model on the ground. She thought of what the others had looked like, moving without anyone touching them and focused really hard. The toy shook, wobbling back and forth on its wings until slowly it began to rise into the air. It was shaky and unsteady, but it was floating.

Caro gasped and tore his eyes from the toy to look at her. “Mira! You’re doing it!” 

Higher and higher she directed it, until it was at Caro’s eye level. He stepped all around it, looking in awe. Her head was starting to feel a bit funny but she was too focused on the toy to really pay much attention. “Wow!” he exclaimed, pretend flying his X-Wing in circles around the TIE fighter. “It's like a real starship!” 

Mira, eager to impress him further, imagined the X-Wing flying beside the TIE fighter and then Caro was gasped again as it left his hand. “Whoa. Wait Mira, hold on, I have an idea!” He scampered about the room, gathering toys in his arms. She could feel a weird throbbing sensation in her hands but still ignored it. This was far too exciting, she could push through any discomfort.

One by one Caro lifted the toys to the height of the two in the air, holding them steady while she exerted her control over them. Soon enough they had an entire fleet of toy ships, hovering in the air as though they were in space. He stepped back once the last one was in place and just looked. None of them were moving, but she was holding every single one in place. “Wizard.” He breathed, mouth open with admiration. 

Her head was really feeling funny now, the throbbing felt like it was in her head and her hands actually hurt from how clenched she had them. She relaxed her fingers just a little but every toy wavered from the action so she quickly stretched out again to catch them. The last thing she wanted was to drop a single one, from the height they were at they’d likely break and she’d hate to be the one to break all of his toy ships. 

“Mira are you okay?” She heard him ask and she nodded but the action sent a twinge of pain through her head. “Mira?” He asked, a sense of urgency in his voice. And then suddenly everything went dark.

~

_“Mira? Can you hear me?_ _Mira? Can you try to open your eyes?”_ That was funny, hearing a voice in her head. It sounded like Rey but when she tried to focus on her voice it felt like someone was squeezing her head really tight. And she just felt, so, tired. 

_ “I can’t momma. Hurts too bad.”  _

_ “It’s alright sweet girl. Just rest.”  _ She wanted to nod or say something to show that she’d heard Rey but couldn’t bring herself to do anything, so she just let her mind drift back into the quiet darkness. 

~

“Is she gonna be okay Rey?” Caro looked terrified. Ever since he’d called for Rey in a panic, he’d not stopped radiating worry for Mira. She’d collapsed while they were playing, likely due to overexerting herself. From how Caro told it, she’d managed to levitate his entire fleet of toy ships. A near mindless task for Rey, but for Mira, an untrained girl barely beginning to tap into her abilities with the Force, an astronomical feat. 

She pulled her hand away from Mira’s temple and looked to Caro. “She’ll be fine. Like I suspected, she overexerted herself. She just needs to rest for a while.”

“I didn’t mean for her to get hurt, I didn’t know-”

“Caro, it’s alright. I don’t blame you and I don’t blame her. If anyone is to blame, it’s me. Come here.” She opened her arms to him. Without hesitation, he sat next to her on the bed and leaned into her hold. “It’s my fault for not helping her learn to recognize when she was pushing too hard and for not teaching her how to safely practice. It’s a lesson for all three of us. I know it’s hard for you to understand because you don’t feel the Force the same way she and I do, but it’s not something you’re just able to do overnight. It takes practice and learning the same way any other skill does. There are some things that she might be inherently good at, but to do them safely requires time and patience. It took me a long time to get to where I am now. So be mindful of her abilities alright?”   
  
“I will. Promise.” He assured her, nodding against her shoulder. 

“Good. Now, let’s give her some time to rest.” She let him go and got to her feet, gesturing out of the room with a nod of her head. They were en route to the garage by habit when he spoke up again. 

“What Force thing happened this morning? She wanted to tell me, but wasn’t sure if I was supposed to know.” The fact that he felt confident and safe enough that Rey wouldn’t make him leave if he asked something he wasn’t supposed too made her heart do a little flip but still she frowned. 

“It’s not that you’re not supposed to know Caro. It’s more,” she hesitated, “more if I’m ready to share. It’s more to do with me than either of you and it has to do with something that happened before I met you.” 

“With the war?” He asked. 

“Poe told you about that didn’t he?” 

“A little. Finn and Rose didn’t let him tell me a lot.” 

She nodded in acceptance and then sighed softly. “It does have to do with something that happened during the war. I’ll tell you someday, but I don’t think I’m ready yet. I don’t think I’m ready to tell anyone.” 

“No one knows? Not even Poe, Finn or Rose?” 

“They know some of it, but not all. Like you said, it’s a Force thing. No one really understands.” 

“Then I think you should wait until you’re ready before telling anyone, even me and Mira. I can be patient. And I’m not mad if you want to keep it a secret from me.” 

Rey couldn’t help the slight chuckle that spilled from her. She wrapped an arm around his shoulder and pulled him into a loose side-hug. “I’m lucky to have you here with me Caro.” 

He smiled up at her and said “I think I’m the lucky one to get to be your family.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay in posting. All the stuff going on in the world right now put a pretty big dampener on my writing brain.


	15. The Next Years

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, here is the second of four montage chapters. It really morphed into a beast of a thing when my muse got going. Hope everyone is staying safe and that you enjoy!

The minute the chores are done for the day, Caro sets himself up at Mira’s bedside. Rey doesn’t give him grief for his worry, she’d done much the same thing anytime any of her friends were injured. When Finn had been hurt on Starkiller, she’d not left his bedside for anything until she’d gone to find Master Luke. So Rey brings him his holobook and gives him a gentle smile before going to tend to dinner by herself.

They have a quiet dinner together on the floor of Mira’s room, discussing the work they’d done and what else needed to get done before they returned the speeder they were fixing to its proper owner. Mira didn’t so much as stir the entire time. Rey gently checked her mind again while Caro washed the dishes. She couldn’t do much by way of healing, as there wasn’t a physical injury to heal. But she could at least show that she was there and supportive, sending gentle light across the Force. 

She fell into her meditation in this position, opening herself to the Force. Mira’s presence was dimmer than usual but still present, shining rather than sparkling like it normally did. The other thing that had changed was the bond, the ‘doorway’ that she and Ben had found rested in her peripheral vision. When she tried to look directly at it, it seemed to move and shift to stay in her periphery. There, but not completely. She could still feel Ben radiating from the bond, a comforting sensation of being more whole again. He’d disappeared again earlier after he’d started to feel like he was fading. He claimed he felt certain that he could return after he’d ‘recharged’ and while she believed him, she still felt a lingering fear that he wouldn’t be able to. 

When she finally felt Mira’s presence relax from the forced unconsciousness into sleep, Rey let herself relax. She’d told Caro that Mira would be fine, but even she had held some worry about the truth of the statement. Now that Mira was simply sleeping, she’d wake good as new in the morning. And once Rey was certain she was alright, she would begin training her in earnest.

~

  
The next two years pass quickly.

After Mira’s discovery of what the Force could do, she gained a renewed confidence in what she was capable of. She meditates with Rey, realizing her own center is what requires her attention the most, opposed to Rey's method of reaching out with the Force. Before she even hazards another attempt at levitation or anything of that nature, she focuses on herself. Mental shields come naturally to her along the way, strong enough that Rey can’t even get glimpses into her mind unless she actively pushes her way in. She thinks back to her dreams and realizes they’d been visions given to her by the Force. Rey had featured heavily in them, but now she’s able to recognize that Caro had once made an appearance, as had a Twi’lek girl that she didn’t yet know. Rey confirmed her thoughts, she’d seen the Twi’lek girl as well. Another member of their family who’d yet to join them. They’d spoken of their dreams one day, comparing similarities and differences. Mira gets the distinct feeling that Rey doesn’t tell her everything but chooses not to pry. 

Rey also had told her more about the man, Ben Solo, who’d begun appearing around their home. She doesn’t quite understand everything Rey says, especially the term Dyad, but she gathers enough that Rey and Ben are connected and that he’s appearing because of that connection. She also comes to terms with the fact that he is truly a ghost, someone who was no longer living but was still able to have a presence. No matter what they try though, she still can’t hear a word he says. He gestures to her and Rey dictates for him sometimes, but more often she’s teasingly reprimanding him for what he’s saying. Rey does admit that she still hasn’t told Mira the full story but promises that she’d tell her eventually. 

As Mira learns more and more about the Force, Caro’s knowledge of machines and mechanics expands just as quickly. He spends hours in the garage, tinkering with parts and making modifications to their speeder. Every day he insists he’s ready to pilot it but Rey never relents. She’d told him he could pilot when he turned 13 and was sticking to it. But with nothing left to learn on the speeder, she does start taking him out to the old X-Wing and teaching him about it. He’s too big now for them to both fit in the cockpit together, so Rey sits in the pilot's seat while he balances on one of the wings, leaning into the ship. There are what seems to him like hundreds of buttons and switches in comparison to the straightforward system on the speeder, but some things are similar enough that he can begin to recognize them. 

Mira meditates in the shadow of the starship while they work above her, feeling the Force signatures of Rey, blinding bright, Caro, dim but still there, and sometimes Ben, who felt like a wavering glow of static on a holo. Sometimes, she asks him questions that he can answer with a nod or shake of his head. It doesn’t answer much, but it’s fun to try and think of things to ask. Through these questions she pieces bits of the full story together. He cared deeply for Rey and something had happened involving both of them that had led to his death. Most interestingly, he refuses to answer any questions about the Force past that he’d had it as well. 

~

One day, Caro asks Mira when her name day is, confessing that neither he nor Rey knew their own so they’d just picked days they decided were important. He’d proudly explained his was the day he’d met Rey but didn’t know the significance of Rey’s choice. Mira remembered that Grandma had celebrated a name day for her once, but wasn’t sure what the exact date had been. So she too decides that the day she met Rey was a good fit. 

The day before Rey’s name day, Mira and Caro decide they’re going to celebrate. They work together to make her a gift, a bracelet made of braided leather bands and bits of polished metal. It’s certainly not something practical but both of them had noticed the lack of ‘non practical’ things Rey had. Everything she owned served a purpose in some way. On her name day itself, after his morning checks, Caro insists on helping Mira make breakfast and that Rey not worry about it. She protests at first but eventually relents and takes a seat at the table while they work. Mira sees Ben appear and say something to Rey, looking a little bit sad this time when usually he looks fairly content. She shrugs and mutters something too quiet for Mira to hear. They argue softly for a minute until Rey closes her eyes and sighs, a small smile appearing on her face. Ben smiles in return and says something else, lips moving in a way that looks suspiciously like ‘happy name day.’ 

When Mira’s name day comes around (only a little more than a week before Caro’s) both children decide that they would simply share a celebration. It was easier for everyone that way. Rey tells them they could each have their own but they stand by their decision. Rey relents and calls Finn, Poe and Rose to inform them so that they know they only need to come once. They inform the kids that unfortunately they have a very important government matter to worry about so only Rose will be able to come visit. The look Poe gives Rey is plenty to silently convey that Rose will explain more when she arrives.

The kids, while disappointed, both understand and gush about how they can’t wait to see Aunt Rose and that they hope to see their uncles again soon. They take this chance to tell them all sorts of things, about Rey’s name day and the games they’re playing and how Caro’s started to learn about the X-Wing and on and on. They talk for hours until Finn reluctantly informs them that it’s late on Coruscant and that they should probably be getting to bed. They wish the kids happy name days and promise to come visit when they can. The looks they give Rey though, make her nervous of what might be happening away from her simple life on Tatooine. 

Rose arrives a week later bearing a smile and an armful of gifts for all three of them. Mira gets a pair of dolls from her Uncles and a stuffed bantha from Rose. Caro gets one present from all three of them, a comm unit of his own already input with their codes as well as Rey’s. Their gift to Rey is practical because they know she wouldn’t accept anything less, a new datapad with the access codes to the database they work from, a way for her to keep in the know about everything going on that they’re dealing with. Also included on the datapad are packages of education lessons for all ages. 

Rey had taught herself letters and numbers, as well as basic arithmetic. She’d gotten a bit more tutoring from a woman in the Resistance who’d been a teacher, but she’d never formally gone to school. Caro and Mira had gotten basic education from the Orphanages but the lessons on the datapad would certainly help all three of them.

The night Rose arrived, after both Caro and Mira were in bed, she and Rey sat down in the kitchen to catch up on the matters that weren’t exactly friendly to children. “There’s rumors, of something growing in the Unknown Regions.” Rose began quietly, looking down at the steaming mug of tea in her hand. “Nothing quite as big as the First Order, Anti-Force Extremists is what we’ve been told.” Rey sets her mug down on the table, eyes meeting Ben’s from where he was across the kitchen, listening in. 

“What do you know so far?” Rey asks. 

“Not much. That’s what Finn and Poe are investigating now. We wanted you to know, so you could keep yourself and the kids safe. We’re not sure to what extent the group has supporters or if they’ve even left the Unknown Regions, but you needed to know.”

“It’s alright, I appreciate the warning. I’ll see what I might be able to find out, there might be a record in one of the texts.” 

“Let us know if you find anything.”   
  
“Of course, I expect you’ll do the same.” 

Rose nods and reaches across the table to grab Rey’s hand. “Hopefully it’s nothing, rumors and nothing more.” 

Rey squeezed her hand and offered a small smile. “You know what they say about hope.” 

Rose changes the subject after that, telling her about everything else that’s been going on. Rey is interested but truthfully is far more excited to have a friend to talk to than in what’s going on with the galactic government. 

She leaves a few days later with hugs and promises to drag the boys out to see them as soon as she could. 

~

Rey spots a sandstorm on the horizon one morning while she and Caro are doing their morning checks. “Go back inside and wake Mira up, I’ll finish up here. Wait for me in the kitchen.” Caro protests at first but eventually relents. The storm is nearly on them by the time she gets back inside, wind whipping her hair into knots and sand stinging her skin. The kids have done as she instructed and are waiting in the kitchen, a split jogan fruit between them. They’ve weathered sandstorms before, but something told Rey that this one was poised to be much larger than normal. 

When she gets out of the shower, the storm has hit, the sky outside in the courtyard dark from the density of it, the winds howling above. The courtyard was sunk low enough into the ground that it was spared the brunt of the sandstorm but it was still exposed, already she could see a thin layer of sand had built up on the ground, covering the soil of their garden. 

“It's bigger than normal.” Mira said when Rey entered the kitchen. Mira must’ve felt that same foreboding feeling Rey had. 

“I think so. It’s alright, we’ll settle in on this side tonight. Maybe it will have passed by tomorrow.” 

They eat breakfast and go to work in the garage. Luckily, most of the homestead is contained on one side of the courtyard, meaning they can access the kitchen, the garage and the ‘fresher that Rey uses. Unfortunately, both kids' rooms are on the other side of the courtyard, usually not a problem considering the weather on Tatooine, but in situations like this, their rooms were all but inaccessible. 

At the first sign that they might be spending more than just one night in Rey’s room, Caro insists on just running over to get things for him and Mira. Rey takes one look outside and refuses. The storm had only gotten stronger, so much that even their protected courtyard had become dangerous. He did have a point though, on Rey’s side of the homestead, the kids had very little since Rey tried to encourage them to keep things organized in their rooms. They’d need something to keep them entertained, even if they wore the same clothes until the storm subsided enough. She has ideas but decides to hold off a bit longer just to see if the storm would let up.

Bedtime comes around with no sign of an end of the storm in sight and they settle together in Rey’s room. She and Mira meditate while Caro swipes through an old manual on Rey’s datapad. Ben is already there when she steps into the Force.

_ “You seem troubled.” _ He stated, sitting cross legged in front of her.

_ “There’s a sandstorm, bigger than usual. I’m not sure when it’s going to end.” _

_ “You’ll be alright, knowing you, you’ve prepared for it. You’ve weathered worse in your life than one sandstorm.”  _ She says nothing in reply.  _ “But that’s not what you’re really worried about.” _

_ “I think I want to tell them.” _

_ “About us?” _

_ “The whole story. As much as I know at least.” _

His eyes widened for a fraction of a moment, then the neutral expression he normally wore settled back on his features.  _ “About the Skywalkers?”  _

She looked at the ground for a moment, uncaring that there was no actual ground to see.  _ “I think so. I think I’m ready to share my part in it. I think they’re ready to hear it. I’m tired of keeping it a secret.” _

_ “It’s no longer my story to share, even if I do play a role.”  _ He said after a long moment of silence. 

_ “But it is your story, it’s the story of your family. I won’t tell them if you don’t want me to.” _

He chuckled softly, closing his eyes and shaking his head.  _ “Rey, that’s not the point. I trust you and know you’ll tell it without the lens of propaganda that either side might give it. And I’m sure that you won’t tell them the worst of it. Though if you want to tell them the full story one day, you’ll have to tell them about the atrocities my family committed, that i’ve committed,” _

_ “You changed.”  _ She insisted, interrupting him.  _ “But that’s part of the reason I want to tell them before anyone else. Finn and Poe and Rose are my best friends but,”  _ she paused, uncertain what to say. 

_ “But, they have been told versions of the story their whole lives that have benefited one side or another. They’re unable to see it without it being black or white.”  _ She nodded. 

_ “I’d like you to help me tell it, if you can. It is your family after all.”  _ Ben looked at her, eyes searching hers. She watched him bite his lip, eyebrows furrowing thoughtfully, considering her request. She was about to speak up again and retract her words but then, slowly, he nodded. 

When Mira opened her eyes from her meditation, Ben was sitting next to Rey, eyes closed and seemingly in meditation himself. She blinked in surprise but didn’t otherwise react. She’d gotten used to Ben just being there sometimes, but he’d never appeared like this. Caro is still occupied with the datapad so when Ben opens his eyes and looks at her, she smiles and waves a little bit in greeting. He returns the smile and winks at her. She liked Ben, some small part of her mind imagined that if he wasn’t dead, he would have been with Rey when she’d found Mira and they would have been her family together. 

When Rey opened her eyes, she took a deep breath, drawing Caro’s attention to her. “Are you guys done?” He asked, though he didn’t sound very happy. If they were done, it meant it was bedtime, he was already not very excited to have to share a bedtime with Mira. Usually, he went into his room when they went to meditate and really set his own actual bedtime. 

“I think we are, but I thought that since we’ve had to do things differently today and might for a few days, that I might tell you both a story.” 

Caro sat up and looked at her in surprise. “A story? You mean-?” he didn’t finish his thought but Rey nodded. Mira looked between them in confusion, wondering what story Caro knew about. 

“I think it’s a good time for you both to hear a story that is very important. Why don’t you get comfortable because it’s quite a long story, but I think it’s one you’ll enjoy.” 

Mira climbed to her feet and practically leapt into the bed next to Caro as he set the datapad on the side table. They both got under the covers quickly, Rey chuckling at their eagerness. She and Ben got to their feet as well, Ben moving to sit in one of the chairs in the room while Rey settled cross legged on the bed in front of Mira and Caro.

“A long time ago, long before any of us were born, there was a Slave Boy who lived on Tatooine with his mother…” 

Rey told them the story of how the Slave Boy won his freedom from the Hutts and left Tatooine to become a Jedi, back when the Jedi were more than just a myth, when the Jedi were heroes to the Galaxy. She told them how the Slave Boy became a Jedi Padawan, and how he was reunited with a Girl he’d met as a boy and that they fell in love. She told them how they got married in secret because the Jedi weren’t allowed to love. Every so often, Mira saw Ben say something when Rey would pause and how Rey would listen to him before continuing and she realized that Ben knew this story too. Rey told them of a time of war in the Galaxy, where the Jedi were forced to fight in a war where clones were the soldiers. How the Slave Boy who became a Jedi Knight became a teacher in his own right. She told them how the Republic started to get tired of the war and began to lose faith in the Jedi and how the Jedi Knight found out he was going to be a Father. She told them, with a great deal of sadness, how he was tricked by an Evil Man into betraying the Jedi and becoming a monster to try and protect his family. Ben didn’t look at them during this part of the story and didn’t say anything to Rey. She told them, much quieter than her normal voice, how the clones betrayed the Jedi against their will and how the Jedi Order disappeared. She told them how the Man who was no longer a Jedi fought his best friend and lost everything. 

“Is that how it ends?” Caro asked softly when Rey stopped speaking. 

She looked between them both and smiled softly, shaking her head. “No, luckily it’s not. But I think it’s starting to get very late and that it might be time for you both to go to sleep.”

“But it’s so sad, is there a happier part we can end on?” Mira spoke up and after a moment of thought Rey nodded. 

“Do you remember how the Jedi’s wife was pregnant? Well before she died, she had her babies, twins, a boy and a girl. It was too dangerous to keep them together because already her friends that survived the Jedi’s betrayal could feel how strong the babies were. So they were seperated to keep the Evil Man from finding them. The Boy was taken to his father’s homeworld to be raised by his Aunt and Uncle, he would grow up on Tatooine free from slavery and free from the reach of the Evil Man’s Empire. The Girl was taken in by her mother’s very close friends who were royalty on their home planet. She grew up as a Princess with parents who had always wanted a baby girl of their own, safe and protected.” 

Mira saw Ben look at Rey again and Rey glanced at him with a small smile. Caro yawned wide and said “That’s a nicer place to stop.” Mira, seeing him yawn, realized how tired she was and yawned herself, nodding in agreement with Caro’s statement. 

“Good, we can continue the story tomorrow.” She got to her knees to lean forward and hug them both before they laid down under the covers. She got off the bed and gestured with a finger, the lights in the room dimming almost entirely. Quietly, they heard Rey get settled on the makeshift pallet they’d set up on the floor for her, the lights turning off once as she whispered “Goodnight.” Mira yawned her own goodnight and was asleep in moments. 

The storm is still going strong when they wake up the next morning. They watch as Rey wrapped herself in layers and layers of cloth, covering every inch of her skin and hair and fitting goggles over her eyes. She’d decided that she needed to check the condition of the exterior generator. The one in the homestead was still running but she wasn’t sure for how much longer since it was solar powered. They might need to use the backup generator but since it hadn’t been turned on for some time, she wanted to make sure it would work. 

“I can help Rey, I’ve been in sandstorms before!” Caro insisted as she got bundled up. 

“Caro, I appreciate it but it’s too dangerous. Sandstorms in a city are one thing, out here on the flats, they are far more dangerous. If I had any other choice, I wouldn’t be going out in it either.” 

Before she leaves, she takes the chance to go across the courtyard to their rooms, filling a bag with clothes and a few things to keep them entertained, as well as taking the chance to check the vaporator they had inside. It’s covered in sand but still working, which is at least one positive. When she exits the homestead, she disappears almost immediately into the howling sand. 

Mira and Caro spend the morning brushing sand out of the clothes Rey brought over, distracting themselves thoroughly enough that time passes quickly. When Rey comes back inside, her clothes are caked in a layer of tan grime and parts have been loosened by the wind, exposing bits of her skin. She’s littered in cuts on those places, as though someone had taken a grinding pad to her skin. 

“As good a time as any to show you how to heal.” Rey says, sitting down in the kitchen and unwinding the cloth from her body. Sand poured out of the various folds and when she removed her goggles, there was an impression left behind on her face. “The Force is capable of a great many things Mira,” she began to lecture as she took off her protective layers. “We, as beings capable of channeling the Force can also channel it into other things. By harnessing it, we can direct it to certain tasks. By its very nature, the Force is energy, life, death, all things. Our bodies, and that of any living thing, are made up of the Force, you and I just happen to have more of it than someone like Caro who is not Force Sensitive. By reaching out with our Force to that which lives in an organism, we can heal. Does that make sense so far?” Mira, who’d been getting much better with her understanding of the Force as a whole, nods to show she understood.

Rey smiled and placed her fingers around the cuts on her arm, careful not to touch the wounds themselves but next to them. “With practice, you’ll be able to do this with very little effort. Right now, reach out and sense what I’m doing, feel the way the Force flows through me.” Mira shut her eyes and steadied her breathing as though she was meditating, though in her mind's eye she could still see Rey. With a little more focus, she saw a flow as Rey had described, travelling all through her, down to her fingertips to where they rested on her arm. The flowing energy glowed brighter for a moment, the wounds glowing as they were flooded with Force energy, quickly fading away. Mira opened her eyes and saw that Rey’s skin was now unmarred, as though the wounds had never existed in the first place. 

“As I said, it does take practice and quite a lot of meditation to learn to control the flow of energy within yourself, but that is the basic idea.” She healed the rest of her wounds, letting Mira feel and watch how she did but not letting her try it for herself. One day, just as Caro would fly, Mira would be as strong as Rey.

The rest of their day followed much of their normal routine, well at least as much as they could follow. As did the next day and the next. The highlight of each day though was bedtime, over the course of the next few days more of the story unraveled. 

Ben appeared each night to apparently help Rey tell the story, Mira and Caro only getting more invested. They learned how the Boy in the desert made friends with two droids with a secret message and how he met an Old Wizard. She told them of their trip to save the Girl in the secret message and the Scoundrel pilot and his best friend that they convinced to help save her. She told them of their daring escape from a weapon so big it looked like a moon and how the Old Wizard sacrificed himself to let them escape. On and on the story went, the weapon destroyed, the hero's celebration, their struggles and battles against the villains. The Boy learning to become a Jedi like his father before him, from the last living member of the old Jedi. She told them the adventures the Princess and the Scoundrel got into and how they fell in love. 

Ben had once again looked away when they got to that part. 

Then came the way the Boy and the Princess worked together with their friends to save the Scoundrel from Jabba the Hutt, a villain both children were familiar with. The Boy was a true Jedi now, his training complete. He confronted the Evil Man who had broken his family and convinced his Father to give up the dark path he’d followed. His Father saved him, defeating the Evil Man but losing his life in the process. The heroes were triumphant but at the cost of their lineage, leaving the boy alone as the sole protector of the Jedi way. 

The children go to sleep that night to the imagined song of celebration throughout the Galaxy and visions of heroes, victorious over evil.

Rey tells the next part of the story differently, sitting between the two of them on the bed instead of facing them. She doesn’t look at them at all while she tells it, looking more often at her hands or across the room to where Ben sat. 

She tells them about the Son that the Princess and the Scoundrel have together and how despite being very good people, they are not very good parents. Mira glances to Ben and watches how he closes his eyes as Rey tells how the Son was sent to train under the Jedi, his Uncle, and how quickly he excelled and wanted to learn more. She gets quiet when she tells them how the Son began to hear a voice in his head, promising him strength to make his family proud and how, like his grandfather, he was tricked by a monster into betraying everything. And how, once again, like history repeating itself, the Jedi disappeared.

Ben stood up and disappeared and Rey’s voice sounded rough and heavy in her throat. 

The setting of the story switched abruptly after that, to a desert world covered in vast dunes instead of the harsh flats and terrifying crags of Tatooine. And to the story of a girl who knew nothing but the desert and the corpses of ancient giants that had found their final resting places there. The Scavenger girl knew nothing but hardship, working long days in order to get barely enough to eat. Lonely with no one who truly cared for her, but remaining behind in case her parents ever returned for her. Until one day she met a droid and her whole life changed. She met a Boy who knew about a secret and together they ran from the desert planet in a ship that shouldn’t have even been able to fly. They met the owner of the ship, the Scoundrel who’d left what remained of his family behind in order to find his own way. He took them to a world where the Scavenger began to see that her future laid beyond the desert planet and that she, whether she liked it or not, was part of something much greater than she knew. 

The green planet is where she met the Son, now an Apprentice to a monster, he takes her away because she had seen the secret message. He’d planned to take the message from her mind but had not expected her to fight back. They realize that there is more between them, a connection that neither expected and it frightens them both. She escapes and is reunited with the Boy and the Scoundrel but before they can escape the planet together, the Apprentice confronts his father and makes a terrible choice. They run but the Apprentice follows, furious with the Scavenger and her friend. He injures her friend, leaving her no choice but to fight him. She wields the weapon that had belonged to his family against him, injuring him and giving the chance to escape. The Scavenger meets the Princess who sends her on a mission to find the Jedi, her brother who’d hidden himself away from the Galaxy and learn to use this new Force within herself, to become the Jedi the Son had failed to be. 

As Mira falls asleep that night, she swears that she can hear Rey speaking soft reassurances to someone.

The story continues each night, this part told with far more depth and detail than the previous two. They hear more about the Scavenger Girl and her discoveries with the Force but they also learn that the Apprentice and the Scavenger were right to think there was a greater connection between them. They see each other in visions with no warning, can speak to each other without comms, and slowly the Scavenger learns more about the Apprentice. She learns that not everything is as it first appeared to her and that the Apprentice, who’d she’d thought to be a monster, was just another victim, confused and tricked by evil into betraying his family. When the Jedi who’d she’d gone to learn from is not the man she’d expected, she leaves him behind and goes to the Apprentice. She begs him to see the mistakes he’s made and offers to help him turn away from evil in the same way his Grandfather had. He turns on his Master and together the Scavenger and the Apprentice fight together, working as though they are one being. But when it’s over, instead of going with her, he begs her to stay with him, to join him instead in his goal to rule the Galaxy. 

Rey’s voice wavers at this point in the story, her hands clasped tightly in her lap. 

Slowly, she tells them how the Scavenger refuses, pleading the Apprentice to change his mind and how the two that had been one divide themselves along with the weapon that had belonged to his family. She tells them, very quietly, how the Scavenger fled the ship and saved her friends while the Apprentice who was now the Leader of the enemy confronted the Last Jedi, who was able to distract the Leader long enough that the Scavenger could escape. The Last Jedi, having taught all he was willing to teach, surrendered himself to the Force. In that moment, the Scavenger is no longer a Scavenger, but becomes the closest thing the Galaxy has to a Jedi and is forced to bear the burden of the title. She uses what little training she’d gotten to shut the bond she shared with the Son as tightly as she could and that doing so broke her heart.

Ben looked up from his own clasped hands at this point, staring across the room at Rey, who looked at him in return. 

Rey continues with little pause. She tells them how the Scavenger spends the next year learning, reading, practicing, becoming the best Jedi she can with the resources she has. She asks endlessly for the guidance of those who’d come before her but day after day is met with silence. She tells them how slowly but steadily, the heroes rebuild. 

Ben speaks to her during this part but she, for once, doesn't relay what he says. 

She tells them how the heroes learn that the greatest evil the Galaxy had known, the Evil Man who’d crafted the end of the Jedi, who’d been defeated by the father of the Last Jedi, had not been defeated after all. He’d merely hidden himself away to plot and plan his return. The Scavenger recalls something she’d seen in the ancient books she’d studied and realizes what they have to do. They must find a way to get to the Evil Man and defeat him forever, but he had hidden himself deep in the Unknown Regions where it is nearly impossible to find him. The Scavenger and her friends go on an adventure to find a special map that will show them the way. But her friends don’t know that the bond she shared with the Leader had only grown stronger as she did and though she can keep him out, sometimes, when she feels very lonely, she lets him in. They find an artifact that will lead them to the map, but the Leader realizes where she and her friends are and goes after them because he knows a very big secret about her. 

She ends up on his ship but he’s not there, instead on the planet far below. Their bond opens wider than before and they fight as though they are together even though they are so very far apart. He tells her the truth of her family, the question she’d always had, and it hurts her so badly. She doesn’t believe him, not at first, but then the more she thinks, something tells her that no matter how painful it is, it is the truth. Her blood is the same as the man who’d destroyed everything, her Grandfather is the very Evil Man.

Rey practically whispers the admission, hands shaking in her lap. Mira, now laying down in bed, adjusts her position to lay her head in Rey’s lap, trying to radiate comfort. She’d caught on long ago that the story, at least the part they were in now, was Rey’s story. Before she or Caro could assure Rey that she didn’t have to continue, Rey does. 

She tells them how she keeps it a secret from her friends and how they go to a world with a vast turbulent ocean, filled with wreckage from the planet killing weapon that the heroes had destroyed. She tells them how she goes alone to find the map, single-minded in her focus and how she abandons her friends. The Leader is there when she retrieves it, sensing her through their bond. He wants her to join him and together they can defeat the Evil Man because of what else he knows about her. He’d told her on his ship but she hadn’t realized it at first. They are bound together and always have been, two parts of one whole, their souls entwined, a Dyad he had called them. Only together, he claims, can they defeat the Evil Man once and for all. 

She knows he’s right but doesn’t want to believe him. She’s scared, she had seen a vision of a future where she becomes the next great evil and it scares her more than anything. He destroys the map and they fight, more furious than they ever have before. What she doesn’t notice or realize is that he isn’t using the dark to give him strength, not like before. She defeats him, but only because they feel his mother, the Princess, give her dying breath. She begs him to come back to the light in her last moment as the Scavenger kills the Leader. Horrified at what she has done, the Scavenger heals him, but he is no longer the Leader, instead she heals the Son who had been lost long ago. She tells him that she wanted to take his hand, to stand by him, but it was not the Son who had asked her. 

She leaves him, and flees to the planet where the Last Jedi had exiled himself, planning to do the same to prevent the dark and terrifying future she saw. She is gone when the Son gets the strength to stand and when he makes his decision, throwing the lightsaber that belonged to the Leader into the sea. The ghost of the Last Jedi reveals himself to the Scavenger and teaches her one final lesson and gives her a final gift, the weapon his sister had once used in a time long finished. The Scavenger, finally embracing her destiny as the very last of the Jedi, goes to the Unknown Region to defeat her Grandfather.

The Scavenger, now a Jedi, leads the way for her friends to follow, trusting that they will be able to stop her Grandfather’s army. The Jedi confronts the Evil Man, a shriveled husk of a creature barely alive. He tries to sway her to his side, telling her that it was always her birthright to rule. He reveals that if she does what she had come to do, if she kills him in anger then she will become the very monster she had come to defeat. She doesn’t realize that the Son had come to help her, because it was as he’d said, they could only defeat him together. He opens the bond to her, proving to her that he had returned to the light. She tricks her Grandfather, using the bond to give the Son his family's weapon. He fights his way to her and they stand together to defeat the Evil once and for all. But their bond works against them, their foe realizing that it was strong enough to heal him to his former state. He steals their strength and casts the Son aside, leaving the Jedi alone. 

His power restored, the Evil Man cripples the heroes fighting his army above while the Jedi can do nothing but watch as they fall. In her desperation she calls out into the Force. This time, the Jedi of the past answer. She rises and faces her Grandfather with the strength of the Light behind her. It takes every ounce of her strength and the strength of all the Jedi combined, but in the end, she triumphs, though at great cost. 

“The Scavenger who had become a Jedi,” her voice is rough and quiet “knew that there was no other option. That she must use even her very life force to defeat the great evil. She knew she would die but that her friends and the rest of the Galaxy would live. It was a difficult choice but one only she could make.” 

Both children looked to her in shock, confused by what Rey was saying. They watched as a single tear rolled down her cheek. “She hadn’t realized that the Son had survived. He, using his own life force, healed her, brought her back. She opened her eyes and reached out to touch him, disbelieving of what had happened. But upon seeing him, the Son instead of the man he had been, she kissed him. It was  a kiss of gratitude, acknowledgement of their connection, celebration that they'd found each other and could be together at last. She didn’t realize that he had made a decision the same way she had. He had chosen her over himself because he could not bring himself to live in a world without her in it.”

Another tear joined the one on her face, then another and another. Mira looked across the room to Ben, watching as he rose from the chair and sat on the side of the bed. He gave her a gentle smile that conveyed every word that she couldn’t hear. He loved Rey, she knew in that moment, loved her so deeply that he’d come back for her and given everything to her. 

“She held him as he faded away, joining the Force as all his family had before him.” 

Rey says nothing for a long moment after that, not looking at any of them, gaze unfocused and distant. 

“But that’s not the end.” Caro prompted, Rey turning to look at him. She blinked and nodded.

“She returned to the Heroes base and celebrated their victory with her friends. But the Force told her that there was something else she needed to do.” As she spoke, her voice got stronger. “She went to the planet where the Slave Boy who had become a Jedi grew up and followed the Force to the ruins of an old homestead. ‘Here’ the Force said to her ‘Here is where you need to be’. So she stayed.” 

Rey took one of their hands in each of her own. “She met a clever little boy and a gifted little girl and together they made themselves into a family.” She looked at Ben and said “The strength of the bond she shared with the Son was strong enough to bring him back to her in a way neither of them had expected. And the lonely Scavenger girl who had become a Jedi, could not imagine a life in which she could be happier.” 


End file.
